new fave

My dear friend purchased the More With Less Cookbook. Then I borrowed it, while the pages are still pristine and smelling crisp like a library. If it stays in my kitchen for too long, the pages will get stained and it will smell of onion and garlic.

but anyway.

I tried the Hearty Lentil-Sausage Soup last night. It was delicious! My family is not huge fans of lentils. At all. But this soup was thick and hearty, zippy and flavorful from the sausage. Here is the recipe with my alterations.

Brown in 5 qt. pot - 1 lb. pork sausage, broken into chunks. (We have beef sausage so I just used that, figuring they are going for the flavor more than the pork.)

Remove meat and pour off all but 1/4 c. of the drippings.
Add:
2 medium onions, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
4 medium parsnips, cut into chunks (optional, I omitted the parsnips.)

Cook until onions and garlic are tender. Then add:
2 c. lentils
1 T. salt (Note: Don't add any additional salt to the sauteing onions prior to this. I did and it was a tad salty for my taste, although everyone else thought it was fine.)
1/2 t. marjoram (I used an Italian seasonings blend and more like 1 t.)
2 c. cooked tomatoes or juice
2 qt. water
browned sausage

Simmer 30 minutes or until everything is tender.
Cut Italian bread into diagonal slices and place one slice in the bottom of each bowl. Spoon soup over top. Tabasco to taste.

Notes: I made biscuits rather than a loaf of bread. My soup simmered for longer than 30 minutes and was more of a stew consistency. Putting it on bread would have been good, but it was great this way.
Also I think some shredded cheese would be excellent on top. But I think cheese tastes good on everything so you might want to take that with a grain of salt. Overall, this was easy, quick and filling. It fed the 5 of us (and we're big eaters) with plenty of leftovers. This makes a very full pot of soup. Enjoy!