Lentil Soup $2-5

 Lentil soup can be vegan gluten free.   The more you make at once the cheaper it is.

​Lentil soup is one of my favorite meals, for many reasons.  Its hearty, filling, satisfying, very healthy, high in iron (at one point I was close to being anemic and had to seek out foods high in iron) and very cheap.  Oh! And it stores very well, in the freezer.  This makes is perfect for someone that is very busy and gone a lot.... like a flight attendant!

​Find lentils that you like, I think the most common lentils are green, but yellow and red lentils are delicious as well.  Look at the cooking directions on the back, or if buying bulk talk to someone in the store.  Green lentils take much longer to cook than red lentils.  And this recipe is for green lentils, so if you decide to cook red or yellow lentils, the cooking time will be much shorter.

If you have broth in the house, I love adding vegetable broth.  Get a large pan, I will use the largest soup pan I have in the house.  It will usually cook enough lentils for about 10 meals.   Please work proportionately to what you've got.  The larger the pan the more room you'll need at the top to allow for spillage or as the lentils grow.  For large pans I'd suggest 4 finger of room, that's about 2 inches.

I love adding every vegetable you have in the house, but leave out corn, sweet potatoes and Brussel sprouts.  If you're going to the store and really don't know what vegetables would be best my go to's are 

garlic
onion, shallots, green onion
red, yellow, or orange bell peppers
mushrooms ( I like the typical button mushrooms)
tomato
potato 
If you want meat, I think chicken is really good, but then it doesn't freeze as well.
some carrots (I'm light on the carrots when I add them)
Parsley
Celery
If I have kale in the house, I'll add a little, less than a handful, but I wouldn't buy it for the soup...
 ..... Which vegetables you add depends on your taste

I'd suggest at least 5 vegetables in the soup.
 I like the chop everything fairly small because I like the consistency to be the same.  Things taste better to me, when it all feels the same.  But chop the veges large or small to your taste.  Keep in mind if you chop the vegetable to keep them large the potatoes will take longer to boil.  I put a little water in the pot, let it start to boil, then I'll add each vegetable as I chop it.  Usually the potatoes first, because they take the longest to cook, then the onions, mushrooms, and garlic. And add the tomatoes, parsley, green onion, or other garnishes last.  But its kind of hard to go wrong, so it you do it out of order that is OK.  

Then once all the vegetable are in the boiling water, I'll add the lentils.  Keep mixing the pot, as you add each item.  After I've added the lentils, is when I will add the broth, then more boiling water if needed.  Season to taste, I season the soup with olive oil, curry powder, salt and pepper, sometimes I'll use onion powder and garlic powder.  (I don't think you can ever have too much garlic or onions).  Then turn the heat down to low and let it simmer, coming back every 10 minutes to check on it and stir it a little.  After letting it simmer for an hour or so, I'll taste it.  If the lentils are soft and taste good its ready.  Time to eat!  

The Spanish eat Lentil Soup with bread and butter, it is so delicious pairing the two together.

If you made extra so you can freeze it just let it sit on the stove to cool off.  After a few hours it should be cooled down enough to scoop into containers to freeze.

These are my favorite containers for freezing anything because one container is the perfect size for one serving.  And they are stack-able which is awesome for space saving and keeping organized.  This is not a promotion for Ziploc, its just my opinion.