Today is National Soup Swap Day! The idea of this day is to gather your friends around you and share soup with each other. I will be doing that later today when we have some friends from college over for dinner. While we all live in the same city, we don’t see each other enough. We have been trying to get together for a month now, and I suggested we meet on Soup Day. We are all making soup, bread and salad. I’m sure lots of wine will also be involved. I’ll have pictures later.
Here in the virtual world, we have our own soup swap going on. Below is my contribution, and several others have also decided to play along. And with the weather as cold as it has been for many people, a nice warm bowl of soup is just what the doctor ordered!
Like Jennybean, I usually don’t have a recipe – I tend to be a chop-and-dump sort of soup maker. My soups are always made from what is sitting in the fridge. I’ve made a vow to myself to start writing some of them more successful ones down. Maybe one day I will.
So, I present a soup I am going to make tonight. I chose it from the January 2008 Cooking Light Magazine. I love cooking with lentils and beans, so this one caught my eye.
Anthos Lentil Soup
(serves 6 people)
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 cups cubed peeled baking potato (about 8 oz)
1 cup finely chopped carrot (about 2 medium carrots)
1 cup finely chopped celery
3/4 cup finely chopped parsnips
1/3 cup finely chopped shallots
3 tablespoons sherry vinegar
6 cups fat free chicken broth (low sodium if you can – I’ll be using veggie broth)
3/4 cup brown lentils
2 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
Directions:
1. Heat olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add potato, carrots, celery, parsnips and shallots to pan. Saute for about 7 minutes or until tender. Add sherry vinegar to pan, scrape pan to loosen brown bits. Add broth, lentils, and pay leaves to plan; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 45 minutes or until lentils are tender. Discard bay leaves.
2. Transfer half o the lentil mixture to a blender (or use a hand blender). Blend until smooth. Return mixture to pan, stir in salt and pepper.
Serving Size: 1 cup
Calories 203 (23% from fat); Fat 5.2g (sat 0.8g, mono 3.5g, poly 0.7g); Protein 10g; Carbs 29.6g; Fiber 10.7g; Chol 0mg; Iron 2.8mg; Sodium 501mg; Calcium 55mg — Weight Watcher Points: 4 points per bowl
