Lentil and Sausage Soup

It has taken me a long time to try lentils and I regret that I've missed out on them for so long!  What a great staple to have in your pantry.  Although they are dried, they don't require the lengthy soak that other dried beans require.  In this recipe you just rinse the lentils (make sure you look for little pebbles!) and then cook them in the soup for 2-3 hrs.  I found this recipe on allrecipes.com which is a great resource for recipes. You can find the original recipe here.  Enjoy!

Lentil and Sausage Soup

1/2 lb italian sausage
1 onion chopped
1T garlic chopped
16oz package of dried lentils, rinsed & checked for pebbles
1c chopped carrots
8c water
two 14.5oz cans of chicken broth
28oz can diced tomatoes
1T garlic powder
1T chopped parsley
2 bay leaves
1/2 t dried oregano
1/4t dried thyme
1/4 dried basil
salt and pepper to taste

Cook sausage in large pot until browned.  Add onion and garlic and saute until tender.  Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until lentils are tender about 2-3 hrs.

Huevos Rancheros

Ole!  Why didn't I try making this sooner?!  I didn't really have a recipe I followed.  I just looked at  different recipes on-line and made my own combination.  So you should really just take the idea from this post, pick your ingredients and run with it.  You need crunchy corn tortillas, red or green chile sauce, beans, cheese, and eggs.  This is such an easy meal for b'fast, lunch, or dinner.  Cheap too!

Huevos Rancheros

tostados (that's the 6 in round crunchy corn tortillas but you could substitute tortilla chips)
green enchilada sauce, heated
1 can pinto beans drained
1 can refried beans
mexican cheese blend
eggs, fried
tomato, diced (I substituted salsa the 2nd time I made this)

I mixed my pinto and refried beans together and heated them.  For one serving I used 3 tostados (really 2 is plenty).  This is how I layered it...tostado, beans, cheese, tostado, beans, cheese, tostado,  and 2 fried eggs.  Then top with green sauce and tomatoes.

Senate Bean Soup

So apparently there is this soup served at the Senate that is very popular.  I don't know, I've never been there but this is a good soup.  And CHEAP!  It cost about $5 for me to make the whole pot and it was a BIG pot!  The only struggle I have with soups like this one is getting the saltiness just right when using ham to season the soup.  I'm not sure if there is a trick to it or just luck.  Well mine turned out OK but I wouldn't have wanted it any saltier.  We'll make this again this winter for sure.

Senate Bean Soup

1 bag dried Great Northern Beans
2 ham hocks (or leftover ham but you'll need some ham base too)
12 c water divided
1/2 c diced onion
1/2 c diced carrots
1T oil
1t garlic powder
salt/pepper

Soak beans overnight according to package directions.  Next day saute onions and carrots in oil.  Simmer ham hocks in 4 c water for 45 min.  If you are using leftover ham skip this step and use the ham base to make 4 c ham stock.  Pull meat off of bones and add back to pot with onions, carrots, drained beans, garlic powder, and 8 c of water.  Bring soup to a boil and then simmer on low for 1 1/2 hrs.  About halfway through cooking taste for salt and pepper.