Disclosure: This is a sponsored post.
Every once in awhile, I like to make homemade mac and cheese for dinner. My daughter and I are good with making a full meal out of the noodles and cheese, and my husband will eat it like that without complaint, but he usually prefers to have a meat mixed in with his portion to consider it a complete meal. I'll buy smoked sausage when I am planning on having mac and cheese for dinner because it's easy to heat and add to his bowl. The problem is, smoked sausage usually comes with 2 links to a package, so we end up with way more meat than he'll eat in one sitting. If I don't feel like freezing the extra link, I find a soup recipe to use up the remainder. So after our mac and cheese dinner this week, I planned to use up the extra sausage and the last bits of an open bag of lentils in my cupboard to make a pot of Lentil and Sausage Soup, which is another great Golden Blossom Honey recipe.
I am always looking for delicious and comforting soups during the colder months of the year, and this one fits the bill perfectly. It's hearty on its own, but it's also what I like to call a dipping soup because we'll serve it with a side of bread or dinner rolls to dip into the soup to soak up some of the liquid and give the bread flavor instead of using butter or oils. I usually never use water when making soup because I prefer to use a broth or stock as the liquid base, so I did swap out the water in the recipe and replaced it with chicken broth. If you're going for a vegetarian version, you can omit the sausage and use a vegetable broth instead. We've almost reached the winter finish line, but don't be in a hurry to put the soup pots away just yet. There's still a stretch of cold weather ahead, so keep the pot and this recipe on standby to get over the last few dregs of the season cozily and with a fully belly.
Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
6 ounces smoked sausage, cut into 1/2-inch chunks
1 small fennel bulb, trimmed and coarsely chopped
1/2 cup onion, chopped
2 carrots, diced
3 large cloves garlic, minced
6 cups water
2 tablespoons GOLDEN BLOSSOM HONEY
1 1/4 cups green lentils, rinsed
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
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What are your favorite "dipping soups"?
I’ve only recently begun using lentil, but always the canned ones. They are a great sub for meat in things like Bolognese sauce. My fave dipping soup is far and away tomato bisque.
ReplyDeleteGracias por la receta. Te mando un beso.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of adding sausage to lentil soup. I can get the vegan sausage and I'll bet it would be delicious. this soup is hearty and like you , Im always looking for soup- but for me in any season.
ReplyDeleteLooks very hearty and you did such marvelous photo styling as usual. I have nothing to dip in my soups lol so I don't do them anymore, but we used to eat beans like that with paprika roux.
ReplyDeleteI love smoked sausage, but I really don’t have it that often. When I do, it’s generally in some kind of soup. This lentil soup looks amazingly, good, and I love that you included fennel. I don’t think people use fennel nearly often enough. I’m a big fan because the flavor is phenomenal.
ReplyDeleteI'll happily eat soup year-round. The suggestion to switch to vegetable broth is the one I would most prefer. I haven't had lentil soup in a minute.
ReplyDeleteNever would have thought of that mixture.
ReplyDeleteAlmost at the finish line? Winter may have something to say about that when it snows on Easter lol
That sure looks delicious, Theresa.
ReplyDeleteHope you're doing fine,
Blue
Soups unfortunately don't go well with my ARFID
ReplyDeleteThat looks good.
ReplyDeleteLooks really appetizing.
ReplyDeleteNo way my kids would touch that. We eat lentils often and it is always the day they have their grumpy faces on.
ReplyDelete