We don’t get snow where I live much if ever. On a Friday morning we did, enough to cover the ground. Of course, it quickly changed to rain and all melted away. It stayed cold so I immediately though of soup for dinner. Something warm and earthy. As I poked around the interwebs, I came across, “Herby Lentil-and-Sausage Soup” from Cooking Light (one of my wife’s favorite magazines). I tweaked a bit with the turkey Italian sausage (and more of it), more lentils and kale instead of spinach. The kale holds up better IMO, the spinach gets mushy.

Ingredients

• Olive oil
• 1/2 a large white onion, chopped
• 3 medium carrots, chopped
• 3 stocks celery, chopped
• 1 package (about 1.25 lbs) of hot turkey Italian sausage, casings removed
• 6-8 cups unsalted chicken broth
• 2 cups dried lentils
• 8 hole thyme sprigs
• 3 bay leaves
• Pinch of salt
• Pinch of crushed red pepper
• 1 bunch fresh kale, stemmed and chopped

Directions

1. Heat a Dutch oven or large pot over medium heat. Add oil to coat the bottom. Add the onion, carrot, celery, season with salt and crushed red pepper and toss to coat. Cook until onion is semi-transparent.
2. Add the turkey Italian sausage and break up in to bite size bits. Cook through.
3. Add 6-7 cups of broth, reserve a cup or two if you want to make it more “soupy” later. Add the lentils, thyme and bay leaves. Mix to combine and simmer to reduce, about 20 minutes. Stir occasionally.
4. A few minutes before serving, add the kale and mix to combine. Once the kale has wilted, you are ready to serve. Remove the thyme stems and bay if you can find them. If you can’t, they are like a little surprise. We served with grilled bread. Enjoy.