Experimental Soup Night

Megan here... tonight I was on my own in the kitchen.  It's kind of dangerous to leave me alone in the kitchen with no specific idea of what I am going to make to eat... you NEVER know what my crazy little brain will conceive!   Tonight was no exception.  I had bulk breakfast sausage leftover from making biscuits and gravy the other morning and some shredded lettuce beginning to wilt - also a left over, this time from fish tacos, some stock and some lentils... sounded like soup to me! When I served it up, my hubby said "This is good! Really good.  You need to post this on the blog." So here you go. 


Sausage Soup
4 oz. breakfast sausage (not in links, if that is what you have, remove it from the casings prior to cooking)
2 cups shredded lettuce (any green would work - spinach, kale, spring salad mix)
1 carton chicken stock
6 baby carrots, sliced thin
1 cup cooked lentils
3 fat cloves of garlic, sliced thin
2 t. lemon pepper
salt to taste


In a 4 qt or larger pot, crumble sausage and cook until lightly browned.  Add the shredded lettuce and stir along with the cooked sausage until the lettuce begins to wilt.  Add the chicken stock.  Add your carrots slices.  Cook over medium high heat until carrots are tender, about 8 minutes. At this point I grabbed my immersion blender and whizzed everything together. If you don't have a stick blender, you could just leave everything chunky and make this a more rustic soup.  Next I added the lentils and garlic slices (I have a basic mandolin I use to get thin, even slices for the carrots and garlic). Finally the lemon pepper and salt.  I served this in large deep soup bowls and drizzled with a nice fruity extra virgin olive oil. 

Soup before blending.

Served with really yummy olive oil dribbled on top.

We enjoyed this soup thoroughly and I know it will become a regular in our house!  I might try mixing up the ingredients next time... bacon instead of the sausage, and spinach instead of the lettuce and maybe orzo instead of the lentils... sounds like another experiment to me!

~Megan~