I’m sorry to say that this will be the last soup of the week post for a while. For one, I’m having a hard time finding creative soup recipes every week, and honestly I’m getting really sick of eating soup all the time! But that doesn’t mean I’m quitting cooking all together. In fact I’m hoping to try some fun new recipes in the next few weeks and test them out on friends and family at several Christmas potlucks. I know your mouths are watering in anticipation, but alas today is just soup.

This hot pot came to be thanks to me having too much kale, too many sweet potatoes and an untouched bag of green lentils in my kitchen. The next step was finding a recipe that accommodated all of these ingredients, and even thought there are recipes out there for damn near every kind of soup ever made with every combination of ingredients I ended up altering two recipes to get the desired effect. I really liked the way this soup turned out, it’s really hearty and is great for dipping bread.

Rustic Green Lentil Soup with Kale and Sweet Potato

Adapted from here & here.

2 cups kale, finely chopped leafy bits (tear away center stalk before you start chopping)
1 14 oz. can diced tomatoes
1 med onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 small sweet potatoes, diced
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
2 cups green lentils
6 cups water (for the lentils)
6 cups vegetable broth
1/2 tsp cumin
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp paprika
Pinch of cinnamon
Sea salt and pepper to taste
2 tbs olive oil

1) Bring 6 cups of water to a steady boil and add 2 cups of lentils. Lower temperature and boil for 25 minutes or until lentils are tender (mine where cooked by 15 minutes so keep an eye on your lentils).

2) While the lentils are boiling, get another saucepan for the soup (it will need to hold about 6 cups of liquid, and add olive oil, onions and garlic, saute for a few minutes on medium heat.

3) Add the diced sweet potato, celery and carrot and sauté until tender.

4) Drain the lentils from the water and then add them to the onions, along with the tomatoes, and Kale.

5) Season with salt, cumin, cinnamon, cayenne pepper, paprika, and anything else you would like.

6) Add 2 cups of water to the soup mixture, and bring it all to a medium simmer. Let it simmer for about 10 minutes. You may want more water depending on how much water the roasted tomatoes contributed to the mix.

7) Top with some plain greek yogurt and enjoy!