Something Simple / Spicy Lentil and Carrot Soup

When Patricio and I were dating, limited to a student's budget, we ate a lot of lentil soup. We actually ate lentils so often that I got sick of them, and went a couple of years without eating them. Just recently I've started craving lentils again, especially in soups overloaded with garlic.

When I made a simple lentil soup the other day it brought me right back to those "romantic" penny-pinching days, waiting for Patricio to finish making lentils and rice, shivering under a blanket because he and his roommates didn't want to pay extra on the heating bill (by the way, I now write this from my tropical-rainforest-hot apartment, where I can't control the heat, and have to sleep with the window open in the middle of winter or wake up drenched in my own sweat).

Don't let the low price point fool you - lentils give you quite a bang for your buck in terms of nutrition. They're a healthy source of fibre, iron, magnesium, and protein. They're also good for your heart!

Spicy Lentil & Carrot Soup

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 20-30 minutes
Serves: Approx. 4

What You Will Need:

• water
• 2 cups of red lentils
• 3 large carrots, grated
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/4 yellow onion, chopped (optional)
• dash of salt
• a couple dashes of crushed red chillies (or more!)
• 1 tbsp of powdered vegetable stock (or half a vegetable bouillon cube)

Directions:
1. Fill a medium-sized pot half way with water, boil at low or medium-low temperature.
2. Add lentils, vegetable stock, salt, crushed red chillies, minced garlic, and chopped onions to the pot, and place lid on.
3. Grate carrots, and add to pot.
5. Stir occasionally. Add more water as needed to adjust thickness.
6. Serve as is, or with a few fresh basil leaves, or a bit of almond milk.

Note: I don't follow recipes when I cook, so this is just an estimated recipe. Feel free to adjust measurements.


I'll leave you with this photograph of Henry using a dining room chair as a scratching post. I think it's about time that we bought them a new scratching post!

And, I feel like I always leave Oscar out. He tends to run away when he sees the camera, so I took this while he was fast asleep on my sewing basket. Oh, those sweet little paws.

Hope you're having a good week so far.