Happy Monday everyone and welcome to a new week. Back to work, back to school and back to the routine. My weekend was great. Enjoyed the sunshine and the nicer weather. Spring is here!!  With that, I made my final soup of the season with some leftover lentils I had in the freezer and other ingredients I had in my fridge and pantry. A nice light black bean and lentil soup to usher out winter and welcome spring.

I had cooked these lentils a few months back and had so many leftover, I decided to freeze them for use another day. I find beans are easy to freeze and when thawed and used again, they are just as flavorful as the first time around.   Lentils are a very good source of dietary fiber and they are a good source of iron and protein. I like to call them the “superfood of the legume family.”

Hubby didn’t like the lentils I made the first time around so he was (again) skeptical of this dish. In fact, I made a few things this weekend he wasn’t too sure about. I need to expand his tastes from meat and potatoes to things such as lentil soup and tofu.  When I told him I was adding bacon to the recipe, he did get a bit excited.  The best part is you probably have these ingredients at the ready now, so let’s get cooking.

One note: if you don’t have the Southwest Sedona seasoning, you can use your favorite southwest or chipotle seasoning as a substitute.

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Black Bean and Lentil Soup – Great Way to use Leftover Lentils

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Serves	8-10
Prep time	10 minutes
Cook time	3 hours
Total time	3 hours, 10 minutes
Meal type	Soup
Misc	Freezable

This is a tasty soup for those cold days.

Ingredients

• 4 cups cooked lentils
• 3 Strips bacon (fat trimmed off)
• 1/2 Medium red onion (chopped)
• 4 Medium carrots (peeled and sliced)
• 1 tablespoon Two Snooty Chef's Southwest Sedona Seasoning
• 2 cups cooked black beans
• 1 chicken bullion cube
• 2 cups water
• 1 clove garlic (chopped)
• salt and pepper to taste

Note

Eliminate the bacon and substitute vegetable bullion for the chicken and this becomes a great vegetarian/vegan soup

Directions

Step 1

There is basically just one step. Place everything in the slow cooker and cook on high for an hour. Turn to low and cook another two hours. Serve.

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For nutrition information and points, click the magic button.

The first time hubby said “boy the house is smelling good,” I knew I had hooked him. Just had to reel him in with some garlic bread to go with this and a small salad. This has just the right flavor and the right amount of beans. The carrots not only add flavor but also give the soup a bright burst of orange color. If you wanted to make this more like a chili, you can add shredded chicken, but I think it’s fine just with the beans.

Can’t get enough soups and salads? There are lots of recipes posted to my Pinterest board.
Follow Lori’s Culinary’s board Soups and Salads on Pinterest.

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