lentil soup

I work at a restaurant that serves lentil soup, and never seriously considered trying it until I worked the closing shift one night and was given a large amount of it to take home. I had been working all day and was kind of hungry, and planned to eat about half of it when I got home and save the rest for later, but it was SO good that I ate it all.

Some months have gone by and I tried to recreate the soup as best I could, without much success. I didn't panic, though, until they changed the supplier for the soups and the delicious, thick lentil soup full of veggies was replaced with a thin, yellow, yucky, brothy soup with just a few lentils and vegetables. It is reminiscent of vomit. I can no longer, in good faith, recommend the lentil soup to anyone because it's terrible.

Being that it was cold and rainy yesterday (perfect soup weather), I decided to try a new recipe for lentil soup and fix a few things along the way, and the result was, to my surprise, exactly what I had loved in the soup from work. I happily ate a large bowl of it for lunch, tasted it again a couple of hours later to make sure it really was as good as I thought (and ended up eating a bit more of it!), and even the next day it still looked and tasted wonderful. I am very pleased with myself. So pleased, in fact, that I'm going to post the recipe.
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LENTIL SOUP così style
(adapted from this recipe)

2 tbsp olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
¼ tsp dried thyme leaves (optional)
1 medium yellow onion, diced
1 ½ cups carrots, diced
½ each red and green bell pepper, finely diced (optional)
6 cups vegetable or chicken broth
1 28 oz can petite diced tomatoes
1/3 cup tomato paste (about 1 6 oz can)
1 ½ cups lentils, rinsed in cold water
1 tbsp cumin
½ tsp crushed red pepper flakes (optional, for more heat)
Dash of black pepper (optional)
Squeeze of lemon juice (optional)


In a large soup pot, heat olive oil, garlic, and thyme until garlic is fragrant, about 2-3 minutes. Add carrots, onion and bell peppers, and sauté for about 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add petite diced tomatoes, tomato paste, chicken broth, then lentils and cumin, and bring to a boil. Cover, turn heat down to low and simmer for about 45 minutes, stirring every once in a while. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed. Serve with a squeeze of lemon, if desired. Serves 8.

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I was also looking for a recipe to use up the zucchini that was about to go bad in my fridge, when I found some intriguing recipes for zucchini crisp. Apparently it tastes very similar to apples when you cook it the same way as in apple crisp and apple pie. I used this recipe, cut it in half, and only had 3 cups of zucchini so I added a cup of blueberries to make 4 cups of fruit. I also used equal parts cloves and ginger instead of nutmeg because I had no nutmeg in the house. It's still baking right now and is making the house smell delicious. I'm interested to find out just how much like apple it tastes...