Things that warm my heart and soul

It has been really cold out lately , -27C when I woke up this morning !

So, I thought that some homemade soup was in order

I started with a recipe from the January issue of Readers Digest and then, as usual,  made my own changes.

Here is the recipe if you would like to try it yourself. It is a really hearty, warming winter soup.

2 T. of canola oil or olive oil drizzled into a heavy bottomed large pot.

1 small onion chopped

1/2 cup chopped celery

1 or 2 garlic cloves minced

add the above to the pot and heat, stirring constantly until tender.

add:

2,  28 fl. oz. cans of diced or whole tomatoes, undrained

2 cups of water

1 T. brown sugar

1/2 – 1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. freshly ground pepper

1 tsp dried basil – I used fresh equivalent because I had it on hand

1/2 tsp. dried oregano

Stir and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 10 minutes.

I then used my immersion blender to puree all the pieces of tomato but left the onion and celery alone so that there was some texture to the soup. Using the blender made the soup have a very nice consistency.

Then I added about 1/2 to 3/4 cup of dried red lentils and simmered for another 20 min. until the lentils were soft.

This soup is so satisfying !

Our youngest daughter was home from university for a few days. Even though she was still working on homework it was good to see her and visit. She brought me flowers to go with my Valentines chocolate kisses.

Unfortunately, icy road conditions kept our oldest away for the weekend.

I’m so lucky that my ‘children’ still enjoy spending time with me.

I’m very grateful.

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