Prep Time: 15 minutes • Cook Time: 35 minutes
Lentils are a fantastic source of fiber and protein that literally soak up the flavors in this hearty vegetarian soup. This is a great dish to cozy up to on a cold winter day, but with so much nutrition packed into each delicious bowl, it is something you’ll want to have all year round. This is a recipe where delicious and healthy truly come together. Serve with a tossed salad for a perfect meatless meal!
Makes 4 Lunch Portions
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 yellow onion, diced
1 cup diced carrot
1/2 cup diced celery
1 tablespoon minced garlic
4 cups vegetable broth
1 cup green or brown lentils
1 (15-ounce) can diced tomatoes, with liquid
2 bay leaves
3/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
2 cups chopped kale
1 teaspoon lemon juice
3/4 teaspoon salt
Directions:
1. Heat the olive oil in a stockpot over medium-high heat.
2. Add the onion, carrot, celery, and garlic to the pot and sauté for 5 minutes.
3. Raise the heat to high and add the vegetable broth, lentils, diced tomatoes, bay leaves, thyme, pepper, and cumin.
4. Bring the soup to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook for 20 minutes, or until lentils are tender. If soup is too thick, add water 1/4 cup at a time until your desired consistency is reached.
5. Add the kale, lemon juice, and salt to the pot, cover, and let simmer for an additional 5 minutes before serving.
Helpful Tip: When cooking with lentils, it is recommended that you first sift through them to discard any irregular-looking lentils, as they may actually be a small stone.
Recommended Serving: 2 cups= 300 Calories
Nutritionist, cookbook author, publisher and health and wellness entrepreneur Mona Dolgov lives her lifelong mission of creating healthier food products, recipes and inventing simple culinary tricks to easily create practical and healthier lifestyles. She is President of You Live Right, LLC, where she has authored and published over 20 cookbooks for top-selling kitchen appliances, health and wellness products and grocery retailers, focused on simplicity and using nutritious ingredients. She also is a private nutritional coach, offers educational and fun dinner classes at Mona’s Kitchen, and is a speaker on nutritional well-being. Plus, she is very excited about launching Cook U. Follow Mona on Facebook or Instagram @monadolgov
She recently co-authored The Perfect Portion Cookbook, a 5-star rated cookbook (with Hollywood star Anson Willams) that makes American classics healthier and guides consumers to healthier portion control. This book (and Mona) was featured on the Today Show, The Doctors, and The Huffington Post. Learn more at www.theperfectportion.com
She is completing her second cookbook, Satisfy, that will be launched in 2020, focused on simple nutritionally balanced meals all 500 calories or less with real ingredients and real portions. All of the recipes are gluten-free.
