If You Can't Beat'em, Join'em...

While it may be hard to say goodbye to summer, I like autumn for a couple of reasons: the fiery, vibrant colours of the fall leaves, apple-picking, and now, NFL football.

My husband is a big fan of the sport but I always thought of football as something that delayed the start of Sunday evening television. It wasn't interesting to me - a two groups of really big men pushing toward each other while a guy in the back tried to throw a ball before being crushed. But, several years ago I stepped into the light and embraced football as my own. Now I love it. And yes, our Sundays are planned around the games we are going to watch....

For Sunday lunch then, we needed something delicious but relatively easy to put together for our 1pm Patriots v. Jets game. So how about a hearty fall soup accompanied with slices of crisp chewy baguette for dipping? With flecks of brown, green and orange, the soup reminded me of fall colours. The addition of bacon (leave out if you don't like it) adds a nice salty and smokey flavour that makes it such a great hearty soup.

The soup takes about 45 minutes to put together from start to finish but could be even faster if you used canned lentils. It reheats well so it is perfect for lunch the next day and for freezing if you wanted to make a large batch for later.


Lentil & Smokey Bacon Soup

2 c dried mixed split lentils, rinsed well
1 small onion diced
2 large carrot, peeled & sliced into rounds
2 bay leaves
1 liter chicken broth
1 liter water
6 slices of streaky bacon

1. Cook lentils with onions, and carrot with bay leaves, chicken broth, and water. Cook for approximately 20-25 minutes.
2. Meanwhile cook bacon until slightly crisp.
3. Drain bacon. Finely chop and add to soup. Cook another 5 minutes.
4. Using an immersion blender, blend soup until desired consistency.
5. Serve. If reheating, you may have to thin the soup out with a little broth or water.