Ideal for EatingEating ethically while eating great!

It feels like Fall! 

That means soup.

I was just commenting to my husband yesterday how depressing it can be to rarely please all five members of the family with the same meal. It seems that someone always has a complaint about something.

Well, gigantic surprise, every single person loved this soup last night. My four-year-old ate three helpings of it! The fresh, crusty bread certainly helped.

This soup is easy to make. The most labor-intensive part is the chopping. But there's not even much of that. After sauteing the onions, everything goes into the pot at once to simmer. I even left it while I went to pick up my daughters from school and came home to a perfectly simmer soup ready for serving.

Lentil-Potato Soup -- prep time: 1 hour; serves 8

Ingredients

• 1 small onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 1/4 dry sherry
• 2 carrots, diced
• 1 celery stalk, chopped
• 8 cups vegetable broth
• 1 cup green lentils, picked over and rinsed
• 1/2 cup red lentils, picked over and rinsed
• 1 teaspoon thyme
• 1 teaspoon herbs de Provence
• 1/4 teaspoon garam marsala
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 pound new or red potatoes, cut into bite-size pieces
• 6 leaves of napa cabbage, chopped
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Heat oil in a large pot. Add onions and sauté for several minutes. Add garlic and sauté until fragrant. Add sherry and heat through a minute. Stir in thyme, herbs de Provence, garam marsala, and coriander. Stir in carrots, celery, and lentils. Slowly pour in broth. Add potatoes and cabbage. Cover and bring to a boil. Stir. Lower heat and simmer covered for 30 to 40 minutes. Potatoes and lentils should be very soft. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve with warm crusty bread.

By the way, I served my soup with some rice cooked in broth. My family loves starches, so I gave in with this meal (potatoes, bread AND rice, oh my!).

Enjoy!