Hearty French Lentil Soup

The other night I was feeling too tired after an afternoon of painting sets at the Peterborough Theatre Guild to venture to the grocery store for fresh ingredients and resorted to searching the cupboards for inspiration. My mother in law had recently sent me a care package of a variety of dried grains and legumes. I discovered therein French Lentils...which I had never heard anything about before and had no idea what to do with.

I of course turned to Google for inspiration and stumbled across the Post Punk Kitchen, which has many delicious looking vegan recipes. My diet is not vegan, however due to my many restrictions vegan cooking can help me avoid ingredients like eggs. I found their yummy French Lentil Soup.

My husband I split the prep and cooking duties to make this less time consuming, and we made a only a couple of changes to the ingredients; canned tomatoes with liquid drained instead of fresh, and a leek instead of garlic. Don't be scared of all the steps, it is actually quite simple :) I found it helps to have your spices pre-measured together into a little cup or bowl. And it is much faster and more fun if you have a friend or family member to share in prep work!

Now, I know the words "yummy" and "lentils" may not usually go together for many of you, but I assure you that this was a super tasty and surprisingly hearty soup. And I definitely recommend following the recipe author Isa's suggestion to eat it with a "good crusty bread". Yum!