Lentil Soup

Lentils are packed with cholesterol-lowering, hunger-busting, blood sugar balancing fiber, along with protein, tryptophan which stimulates your ‘happy’ neurotransmitters, and iron to boost energy. Adding red peppers to the soup help to increase iron absorption due to high vitamin C content. Plus, this is my grandma’s recipe, so it truly is the perfect comfort dish!

Ingredients:

• ~12oz. dry lentils
• 1 onion (diced)
• 1 green pepper (diced)
• 1 rib celery (diced)
• 2 carrots (diced)
• 6 cloves of garlic (minced)
• 1 fresh tomato (crushed) (or half can crushed tomatoes)
• 1 small potato (new potato, yukon gold or red potato) cut in quarters
• 1 tsp paprika
• 5 bay leafs
• 1/2 tsp oregano (dry)
• cayenne pepper and sea salt to taste

Directions:

Wash lentils, cover with water in small pot and bring to a boil. Once boiled, rinse lentils again and add to large pot filled with water.Dice all vegetables, add to pot – onion, green pepper, celery, carrots, garlic, tomato, paprika, potato and bay leafs and bring to a boil. Continue to boil until lentils become soft.Remove potato from pot, cut into small cubes or mash with a fork and add back to pot.Reduce to a simmer and add oregano, salt and pepper to taste*.Once soup is ready, you can also add a small squeeze of fresh lemon juice to taste.*use pinch of cayenne instead of black pepper and ~1tsp Kelp granules instead of sea salt