Soup's on

Lentil soup makes a great snack. It's quick to make, yet so substantial, so comforting — the kind of thing that's nice to savour following an afternoon of snowshoeing or skating.

All the same, my favorite thing about lentil soup is sipping white wine while sauteing the garlic and onions. My second favorite is just to pull a bowl from the fridge, as leftovers, and nuke it.

This version of the recipe comes from a long-time friend. But tons of variations are possible. (Examples are given below, to get you started.)

Lentil soup

Ingredients

• 1 onion (chopped)
• 1 clove garlic (minced)
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 cups vegetable broth
• 2 cups water
• 1 19-oz tin of tomatoes (stewed, Italian style, with juice)
• 1 cup red lentils

How

1. Saute onion and garlic in oil.
2. Stir in broth, water, tomato and lentils.
3. Bring to boil.
4. Simmer 30 minutes, stirring often.

Start-to-finish is about 40 minutes.

Oh yeah, some optional ingredients:

• Italian herbs
• tamari
• chicken broth (vs. veggie broth).

We really like adding:

• bay leaf
• white wine
• Louisiana hot sauce
• fresh lemon juice.

Whichever way you decide to serve it up, enjoy.

And no pressure: you can skip the snowshoeing and skating.   ;‍-‍)