Hearty Lentil Soup & Cucumber Onion Salad

Okay, so you'll have to forgive me (have to, there's no option here) for my absence. This has been an extremely cruddy week work-wise, and to top it off, I was sick for most of it. I haven't really been on the computer much at all, and when I was, blogging was the furthest thing from my mind.

But I'm back with a great new soup and salad combo. I really think soup&salad is the best type of meal you can have, comforting and refreshing! And soups and salads are versatile enough that they will never be boring!

I made these recipes before, but apparently did a really crappy job of it since I wasn't that impressed with them the first time around. I thought they were excellent this time! Though I do find it amusing that I was apparently sick the last time I made this, too.

On this specific evening, we had my dad over for dinner. Sean made some cute little "Chesapeake-spiced" (read: Old Bay coated?) turkey, swiss, and mustard/mayo sandwiches.


I took a bite out of that one, and realized half the sandwiches were gone and there was no picture!

Here's what you'll need!


A lot.

Hearty Lentil Soup

cooking spray
14 oz. lean smoked pre-cooked Kielbasa, sliced
2 stalks celery
1 medium onion, diced
2 carrots, diced
3 cups water
1 14.5-oz can of chicken broth, or equivalent (I'm still getting through my cube collection)
2 14.5-oz cans diced tomatoes
1 cup dried lentils
salt+pepper
2 bay leaves

Coat a large soup pot with spray, and saute sausage over medium-high heat until lightly brown. Remove from pan.

Add celery, onion, and carrots to the pot and saute for approximately 5 minutes.

Add everything else including the sausage, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 1 hour.

Remove bay leaf (or eat around it!) and serve.



Last time I made the cucumber onion salad, I followed the recipe and used an entire medium onion. I couldn't even eat it because it was so potent. This time I used significantly less, but I honestly think the recipe would be great with no onion whatsoever. It's up to you!

Cucumber Onion Salad

1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup sour cream
1-2 T. fresh dill, minced
1/2 t. garlic salt
1 1/2 T. white wine vinegar
salt+pepper
1 t. sugar
2 large cucumbers, peeled and sliced
1/2 small onion (or however much raw onion you can handle!), thinly sliced

Whisk together everything except the cukes and onion. Add cucumber and onion and toss to coat well.



Recipe adapted from The Healthy Calendar!