Silver Anniversary and Red Lentil Soup with Sage and Bacon

Happy 25th anniversary, mom and dad! I hope you had a wonderful weekend full of celebration. Here’s to many more. I love you two!

Don’t worry about the Ides of March this day. Ides refer to the 15th day of the month and didn’t go so well for Caesar but was originally a day to celebrate, in March, the Roman god Mars, god of war. Just a tidbit of info but to me, this day is the day my mom married the man I call dad or pops and soon, grandpa. (My sister is pregnant.) A small ceremony was held with family and friends in my hometown 25 years ago and soon after, a larger family was created, making me a big sister. The rest is history! It’s even better that my sister is having her first child and so begins the cycle of life.

The daylight saving time switcheroo has me feeling “off.” I woke up, looked at the clock and went back to sleep (after deciding it was too early to rise)- sleeping in much longer than I had wanted. My morning has been rough on my routine. The very quick weekend left Greg and I confused about exactly what we did and how that could take up so much time and then wham, it’s Monday.

Perhaps it was the awesome weather that made the weekend scoot along so quickly. We had temps around 60 and the sun came out for the first time in a week! I was surprised because meteorologists in Minnesota were calling for more gloom until later and also for temps around 50…which is still nice but 60 on Sunday was the mood booster I needed. Spring begins the 20th (Saturday). Come on, come on, come on!

Along with those temps came an early thaw in several states. The consequence of this, in our area, is that the Cannon River (behind our apartment, running through town) is rather high and out of control wave-wise and there is some light flooding. The river drew quite a number of people out of hiding and made for a nice neighborly scene in town. Very few people have been out of their houses this winter but the river being out of control and very high is something out of the ordinary, maybe I will get a clip of it to share. People stood and stared in awe, especially around the waterfall.

I’ve been meaning to write a post about pantry staples. I know that everyone and their twin sister (I’m over the brother thing) have made this list and I don’t want to be an exception (for once). Of course, I have to do this my way and so starting tomorrow, I will post what items I usually have along with a few recipes and ideas for these ingredients. I don’t really have a pantry because that’s considered an entire room or closet but I have cabinets and I bet you do too. Join me tomorrow for a glimpse into my kitchen. Just so you know I’ll be posting this info over a span of a few days.

For today, I want to share another Martha Stewart recipe for ANOTHER soup. Recently, I know I’ve been making a lot of soup. I think it’s easy, can be made at your convenience and reheated or left to simmer most of the day and most soups are lower in calories than many meals that you might be craving. I’m also a fan when it melds and tastes even better the next day. Like I said before, winter is almost over (yessss) and with that will be the heavy soup season in my household…I make no promises though.

Red lentil soup with sage and bacon is tasty and filling. I loved the combo of sage and red lentils with some of the bacon fat to flavor the often bland lentils. I don’t think that I would substitute another kind of lentil because the red, which cook faster than other varieties and will be a golden color when done, pair well with the other ingredients but you can use whatever you’d like.

Red Lentil Soup with Sage and Bacon from Martha Stewart
Serves 4

Ingredients:
5 slices of bacon
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 medium onion, finely chopped
4 medium carrots, peeled and diced (small cubes)
6 fresh sage leaves, minced
11/2 cups red lentils
1 tsp cumin
5 cups chicken stock or broth
salt/pepper

In a large pot over medium heat, cook the bacon until crisp and set on a paper towel. When cooled, crumble and set aside. Discard all but 1 tbsp of bacon drippings.

Add the garlic, onion and carrots to the pot and cook over medium until tender, about 7 to 10 minutes. Add the minced sage and cook for another minute. Add the lentils, cumin and stock or broth, stir and simmer until lentils are cooked and falling apart, 20 to 25 minutes. Keep an eye on these so that you don’t end up with mush. Taste and add any salt and/or pepper it might need and serve, placing the crumbled bacon over the top.