Lentil Soup

 Lentil Soup!

Ingredients:

• A cup of Lentils (dry and raw)
• A cup of Barley
• 1/2 sweet onion
• a couple stalks of celery
• a couple carrots (regular size)
• 2 small tomatoes
• 4-5 cloves of garlic
• one carton of chicken or vegetable broth
• 1/2 cup of cooking white wine
• parsley
• bay leaves
• oregano
• cumin
• sage
• salt
• pepper
• parmesan cheese (optional)
• olive oil
• spicy Italian sausage (optional)

Start:

1. Boil water for barley - cook on low for 35-40 minutes until tender
2. Chop up all veggies
3. Cook Italian Sausage, I like to take the casing off or use bulk, but you can always chop up and put in soup at the end
4. Pour broth and white wine in pot, bring to a boil, then simmer low
5. Pour in lentils, cook for a 15 minutes
6. Then add chopped up carrots, celery, onion and garlic, cook for 15 minutes
7. Add all seasonings, a pinch to a tablespoon of each (to taste)
8. Add chopped up tomatoes at end... simmer a couple more minutes
9. Keep barley separate from rest of soup
10. When ready to serve, add a couple tablespoon of cooked barley per bowl of soup!

        Done! wasn't that easy!!! so nice and tasty!

*Optional:
can add a drizzle of olive oil to serving size bowl of soup
can add grated parmesan cheese to top off serving size bowl of soup