Lemony Lentil Soup With Greens

It was new recipe dinner to go with our new recipe Halo Halo Friday night.  My parents brought us another giant bucket of clams, so we had my sister's fam over to help get to the bottom.  I mentioned last time we had them that she and I don't eat them, so three kids and two male adults ate through about 10 pounds of them.  Did  you hear me?  Ten pounds of clams.  Sweet Jesus.

I did them the same as last time, with butter, white wine, and garlic.  When they were done, I sprinkled on some chopped fresh thyme and basil, and gave them lemon wedges for squeezing.  The broth was YUM-O for bread dunkin'.

Here's the poor little fellas before entering the death pot:

And ready to eat.

It's too bad I don't like 'em, 'cause they smelled really good.

But it's okay, dinner was yummy too.  I made another new recipe from the Better Homes & Gardens mag.  According to the date on the bottom of the page I ripped it from, this came out of the January 2010 issue.

Lindsay over at Delighted Momma tells me I need more kale in my life.  (By they way, she's giving away some super cute bracelets that she made, so you should head over there and enter to win them.) So when I was diggin' through my stash, trying to come up with the recent menu plan, this one jumped out.  Plus, I had everything I needed except the kale.  

The whole thing came together really quickly, then it was set it and forget it until it was time to eat.  My kinda meal.  My sister commented that it would be good with sausage in it.  So if you need some meat with your meal, try throwing some in.  Also, we decided if you cut back on the water to make it less of a soup, you could use it as a bed for baked fish.  Yep - play around with it.  It was good stuff.

Here's the recipe:

Lemony Lentil Soup With Greens

2 tsp veggie oil

1 small onion, chopped

1 large carrot, peeled and chopped

2 stalks celery, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

12 C low-sodium chicken broth, plus more as needed (sub veggie broth for a vegetarian soup) 

16-oz lentils (any color)

1 tsp dried basil

1 tsp dried thyme

1 tsp salt

8 C chopped kale leaves

3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

1 tsp finely grated lemon peel

Heat oil in a 6-qt pot over medium-high heat. 

Cook onion, stirring, 3 to 5 minutes, or until softened and translucent.

Add the carrot, celery, and garlic.  

Cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes or until the carrots are softened.

 Add 12 cups of the broth, the lentils, basil, thyme, and salt.

 Bring to a boil.

Reduce heat to a simmer; add kale.

 Cook 30 to 35 minutes, or until lentils are tender, adding additional broth if necessary.

Stir in lemon juice and top with grated peel before serving.

This isn't the most colorful dish.  

You may want to sprinkle on some fresh herbs for presentation purposes.

I dug a couple pieces of thyme out of the clams after my first few shots, in an attempt to make my pics look a little better.

In the end, this ain't a beauty contest - the soup was deee-lish.

We had green salad, bread, and the clams of course, to go with it.

Here it is in my bowl: