It’s time to ease up.
It’s time have a cup of tea. It’s time to play with the cat until he scratches you. It’s time to sit on the couch and stare at the wall a bit. It’s time to stand in the kitchen and eat Ritz crackers and chug orange juice.
It’s time to make a giant pot of soup… and sorta use a recipe… but not really use a recipe.
It’s just time to ease up just a bit….
Tomorrow we can finish shopping, plan big Christmas dinners, finish knitting mittens, and start wrapping presents. For now let’s just ease.
This Spicy Chicken Sausage and Lentil Soup is a hearty winter soup. It was made for your heart and for your soul. It is a healer of all things. But!
There’s all sorts of goodness you could make on your plan to ease up just a bit.
Take in the scenery. Take in the soup!
a. Bright orange Carrot Apple Ginger Soup. Sweet and spicy and so so healthy!
b. Kale and Sweet Potato Soup. You’re the picture of health. No biggie.
c. There’s Vegan Cream of Broccoli Soup, all creamed up with blended raw cashews.
d. Ok… I’m a soup fiend. Would you believe me if I told you that this Vegan Cream of Mushroom Soup is the best soup I’ve ever made? It’s major. It’s bonkers. It’s veganly beefy.
e. Roasted Garlic Soup I want to bathe in. It feels like old romance.
Spicy Chicken Sausage and Lentil Soup
makes a big pot of soup. serves 8
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound spicy chicken sausage, uncased
1 medium yellow onion, finely diced
3 celery stalks, finely diced
2 carrots, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons dried ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon red chili flakes
2 cups uncooked French lentils, rinsed
8 cups chicken stock
salt and pepper to taste
parmesan cheese, olive oil, and bread to serve
in a large saucepan over medium heat, warm olive oil. Add the uncased chicken sausage and cook, breaking up with a spatula as it cooks. Sausage should finish cooking in small chunks. Remove from the pan.
Add a touch more olive oil if necessary. Add onions, celery, and carrots. Cook until the onions are transluscent, about 5 to seven minutes. Stir occasionally. Add the garlic, cumin, and chili flakes, and cook for one minute more.
Add the sausage back to the pan. Stir to incorporate. Add the lentils and chicken stock. Reduce the heat to low and simmer the soup, uncovered, until the lentils are tender, about 45 minutes.
Serve soup with a generous sprinkling of parmesan cheese, a drizzle of olive oil, and good crusty bread. Soup will last, in an airtight container in the fridge, for up to 5 days. Soup also freezes well.
Leslie
Hi Joy and community! Relatively long-time reader and first time poster. I just made the lentil soup this past weekend with chorizo and very fresh produce. The chorizo also gives a great kick. Very, very good! Thank you for this awesome recipe. Please keep them coming.
Amy
I just made this soup with some spicy turkey sausage that we like, and it was so AMAZING! Seriously, this recipe is a new cold weather favorite. You’re a genius :)
rachael
this looks so great!
Elexis
Joy,
Just made your soup (without the sausage) and it was so good! It was my first time making lentils, I think I am in love! Thank you so much for the great and goofy podcast and beautiful blog!
-Elexis
kayleigh
this looks awesome! making it tonight!
Shannon
Yummy, we just had a very nice family dinner. My husband never likes bean soup and he went for seconds. My 4 and 6 year old kiddos devoured it. The french lentils maintained their texture nicely which was a plus. I served with popovers which worked well. Thanks for an easy healthy recipe that we will be sure to have often.
Susan
Made this afternoon. Hubs gobbled down 3 bowls of it after a chilly day sailboat racing in Boston Harbor. As he slipped in to bed beside me, he exclaimed that it ws the best thing he had ever eaten, ;)
Katie @ Arugulovers
Thank you for this recipe, this is exactly the sort of soup I’ve been craving lately. I love the texture of lentils, and this looks good and hearty. I will try ASAP!
Your blog is great, I’m really enjoying it! Happy holidays!
Gen
Yum! It looks very comforting. And I love the plate!
heidih
oh my goodness, joy, you have the BEST soup recipes on your blog! that collage is so delicious, upon seeing it i wanted to make all of those recipes at once! your ginger and lentil soup recipe is a favorite – thanks for another yummy lentil recipe!
KatieB
This came just in time! We’ve been making lentil soup sans recipe, every week, for months. And always with toasted crusty buttered bread too. Then last week something weird happened….I got tired of it. But adding chicken sausage? Well that’s a whole nother meal! (Yes, I said “nother”. Everyone says it but nobody ever writes it…what’s up with that?) I am totally trying this recipe.
Betsy
I want to know what soup that feels like old romance tastes like! I love lentil soup.
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christine [the sugar apothecary]
Damn girl, you are a soup-makin’ machine! I’ve been on an express train to Christmasland lately… sometimes I need that reminder to relax a little and enjoy the holidays, rather than rush through them in pursuit of curling ribbon and stocking stuffers. Maybe I’ll go play with my sister’s cat until he scratches me.
Anne
Mmmmm! Definitely food to warm the soul.