WHAT TO SERVE WITH LENTIL SOUP
There’s a lot going on in this soup, but if you want to round it out for a whole meal, I’d recommend a few extras:

No Knead Bread (YES)
No Knead Cheese Bread (DOUBLE YES)
One-Ingredient Socca (yummy gluten-free flatbread for dipping purposes)
A simple green salad (like this one!)
Lentil soup in a bowl with a spoon.
That’s it. That’s the soup. SO EASY. It requires a bit of front-end chopping to prep the veggies, but I’d guess it took me 30-45 minutes to cut everything up and get it in the crockpot, and in return I was gifted with 8 soup servings of this nutritious + cozy wonderfood. NOT A BAD DEAL.

Cheers to you and your people enjoying many glowing bowls of crockpot lentil soup for all the days to come.

CHECK OUT OUR VIDEO FOR HOW TO MAKE DETOX LENTIL SOUP:

COMMON QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS LENTIL SOUP
What type of lentils should I use in this soup?
We’d recommend brown or green lentils. Red lentils are “split” which means they’ll soften a lot faster.

I like ended my soup with a splash of sherry and red wine vinegar because I’m currently having a moment with tangy foods.

Carrots on a cutting board with a peeler.

Yes! You could freeze leftovers to keep in the freezer for three months, or make it a freezer meal by following the instructions in the recipe card notes or by checking out this post.

Detox Lentil Soup in a bowl with a spoon.
the best detox crockpot lentil soup

Prep Time: 30 mins Cook Time: 6 hours
Detox Crockpot Lentil Soup – a clean and simple soup made with onions, garlic, carrots, olive oil, squash, and LENTILS! Super healthy and easy to make.

INGREDIENTS
for the crockpot:
2 cups butternut squash (peeled and cubed)
2 cups carrots (peeled and sliced)
2 cups potatoes (chopped)
2 cups celery (chopped)
1 cup green lentils
3/4 cup yellow split peas (or just use more lentils)
1 onion (chopped)
5 cloves garlic (minced)
8–10 cups vegetable or chicken broth
2 teaspoons herbs de provence
1 teaspoon salt (more to taste)
add at the end:
2–3 cups kale (stems removed, chopped)
1 cup parsley (chopped)
1/2 cup olive oil – rosemary olive oil or other herb infused oil is delicious
a swish of sherry, red wine vinegar, or lemon juice to add a nice tangy bite

MATERIALS
1 bunch of fresh mint,20 sprigs of fresh thyme,10 Fennel stalks,1/2 bunch of chervil,10 sprigs of fresh tarragon,2 kg Tomatoes,150 ml Fig,vinegar,30 ml Olive Oil,Salt
PREPARATION OF
Extract the leaves of mint, thyme, fennel stalk, parsley, and tarragon. Roughly chop the tomatoes along with the leaves of the herbs.

Pass all the ingredients through Grundig Slow Juicer 5 times.

Add the fig vinegar and olive oil to the liquid you have obtained and season with salt.

Strain and refrigerate. Serve after cooling.

VEGETABLE LEGUMES SOUP
MATERIALS
1 Carrot,1 Celery – With Stems,3 Fresh Potatoes,1 Pumpkin,2 thin stalks of Leek,5 cloves of Garlic,1 bunch of Spinach,100 g Boiled beans,75 g Green lentils,1 teaspoon of hot pepper,2 lt Chicken stock,10-12 leaves of Basil,80 ml Olive Oil,Salt, pepper
PREPARATION OF
Clean and dice carrots, celery, celery stalks, potatoes and squash.

Finely chop the leeks and garlic.

Clean the spinach, weed out the stalks.

Heat the olive oil in the soup pot. Throw the carrots, celery, garlic and leeks in the pan and sweat.

Add the potato, turn for a few minutes. Add the beans and lentils, add the hot pepper and mix.

Add the squash and pour the chicken stock over all the ingredients.

Strum the vegetables until they are cooked to the teeth.

Add the spinach and basil and mix, turn off the heat.

Sweeten with salt.

The restaurant owner, nicknamed “pilot murat”, who made 15 kinds of soup with the recipes his grandfather left behind, kept pace with technology by adding drone to its service network. In Turkey, one of the first to perform fast food in cold weather soup in order that customers drone to do with the service başladı.2017 year opened a restaurant in Besiktas “pilot Murat nicknamed” Murat Gariboğl of Germany homesickness that but the flavors he wants not find Turkey a definite turn makes He makes soup with the recipes his grandfather left behind. Offering 15 kinds of soup from the Ottoman period to its customers, Garipoğlu keeps up with technology by adding a drone to its service network. Gariboğl that performs a first in Turkey, sending customer orders soup with cold air drone.

‘Drone of the soup service that began operations in başlattık’2017 and order sometimes cold and now went when customers of the complaint Upon receipt of the technology that made soup served with drone also using said Bazaar Wings Owner Contemporary Murat Garipoğlu, “as a first in Turkey, Besiktas and we send drone soup to our neighboring districts. Our package is both going faster and hotter ”.

Yes! It should keep in the freezer for 3-4 months.

Can this be made in the Instant Pot?
Yes! Follow the recipe as-is using the sauté function on the Instant Pot, and then instead of simmering for 30 minutes, cook it on manual high pressure for 15 minutes with a quick release at the end. Blend, add your cream and serve!
Simple Homemade Tomato Soup with carrots, onions, garlic, tomatoes, broth, and bacon for deliciously rich flavor. Extremely easy to make!

INGREDIENTS
4 slices bacon, cut into small pieces
2 carrots, chopped
half of a yellow onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon flour
4 cups chicken broth (more to thin out the soup at the end as needed)
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 bay leaf
1 28-ounce can whole San Marzano tomatoes
cream (optional – to add at the end as desired)
kosher salt to taste (I like 1-2 teaspoons)
Fry the bacon in a large soup pot over medium low heat until bacon starts to get crispy and browned, about 5-8 minutes.

Add the carrots, onion, and garlic to the bacon in the pan; sauté for 5-10 minutes until the vegetables are very aromatic and tender.

Add the tomato paste – stir for a few minutes until you can see/smell the tomato paste starting to brown and caramelize. Add the flour and stir for a minute or so.

Pour the tomatoes and their juice into a bowl and crush them with your hands. Add the crushed tomatoes, broth, thyme, and bay leaf to the soup pot. Simmer for 30 minutes. Puree in batches and return to the pot. Add cream if you want. Season with salt. Look at that homemade tomato soup, you champ.

Alright! Today is your day to make simple homemade tomato soup. I can just feel it.

It’s smoky, a little bit sweet, and just as creamy or not-creamy as you want it to be. It’s simple – ready in just under an hour, with MOST of that time being the part where you just gaze lovingly at the pot of simmering tomatoes and let the smells of carrots and onions and garlic and bacon wrap you up in their loveliness.

Cheers to your relaxing, comforting, hug-in-a-bowl tomato soup day!
Why crush the tomatoes by hand?
The main goal here is to use higher quality tomatoes, and usually whole canned tomatoes are higher quality whereas pre-crushed tomatoes are made from bits and pieces of lower quality tomatoes. That being said, I’ve made this without hand-crushing the tomatoes (either using crushed canned tomatoes, or breaking apart the tomatoes in the pan with a spoon) and it’s still delicious.

How can I make this vegan?
Skip the bacon, use vegetable broth instead of chicken broth, and skip the cream at the end (or throw a handful of cashews into the blender with the soup to make it creamy).

Artichoke Soup With Peas
MATERIALS
5 tablespoons of olive oil
1 onion
3 Potatoes
1 Fennel
4 Artichokes
200 g of peas
2 sprigs of fresh thyme
1 lemon
1.5 lt Chicken stock
4 slices of Bacon
Salt, pepper
PREPARATION OF
Chop the onion, potatoes, artichokes and fennel.
Fry the onion in olive oil until it gets a light color.
Add the potatoes, fennel, artichokes and peas and cook together for 5 minutes. Scrape the thyme and add it. Add the lemon peel in strips, squeeze the juice from the half.
Add the chicken stock and cook until all the vegetables are soft.
Puree with a blender. If necessary, add water or chicken stock.
Chop the bacon into thin strips or small pieces. Cook until crispy in a pan without oil.
Serve the soup with bacon crunch and fresh thyme.

MATERIALS
30g Chickpea
25g Dry kidney bean
50g Siyez wheat
10 sprigs of fresh mint
15 sprigs of Parsley
3 fresh onions
600 g Yoghurt
1.5lt Drinking water
Salt
PREPARATION OF
Boil the chickpeas that you had soaked in water the night before, until they are soft and strain.

In a separate pot, boil the kidney beans for 10 minutes. After filtering the water repeat the same process and boil for another 10-15 minutes and strain.

In a separate pot, cook the einkorn bulgur for 20 minutes and strain.

Remove the fresh herbs from the stems and finely chop the green parts.

Finely chop the spring onion.

In a large bowl, mix yogurt, fresh herbs, and your cooked legumes.

Slowly feed the water into this mixture until the desired consistency is achieved.

Season with salt and put in the Grundig refrigerator.

Plants such as centaury, yoghurt, halfmelon, yarrow, nettle and labada, which are among the rich endemic plant varieties of the Kars region, have been used for nutrition and treatment for centuries. In labada soup, it is first boiled in laba to remove the bitterness, then filtered and cut into small pieces. It is mixed with roasted onion and tiny cubed potatoes and added to the “umach” (mixture of milk and flour) and semolina to thicken it. While serving, sprinkle grated “dry” (or dry yogurt) on it.
The final touches were put on the conference day and the results were dishes that appreciated the material, evaluated the stem of the vegetable, the skin of the fruit, and put stale bread in different disguises. The philosophy behind the lunch was to create from nothing, to preserve, increase and suffice in relation to the topic of the conference.

It is possible to apply these meals at the SEVEN “Soul’s Full Lunch” or to adapt them. These are dishes from different corners of Anatolia that are in traditional cuisine but are increasingly forgotten. We chose one dish from each region and listened to their recipes from those who cooked them.

It is a name given to a mixture of boy, thyme, dried mint, salt, black pepper, cumin, red pepper. But not every aunt who prepares tarhana uses this spice mixture. Therefore, if you go to the markets of these regions, you will find tall or non-male tarhana varieties produced and sold by aunts. In fact, some of the aunts who prepare the tarhana grate the tomato a few days in advance to make it more delicious and leave it to turn sour. After all the contents are mixed and kneaded well, it is divided into 4-5 parts and put in bowls. Covered with two layers of cloth or blankets, the dough is left for fermentation in the hottest corner of the house, avoiding direct sunlight. During fermentation, the tarhana dough is checked every two days to check for swelling, and at the same time, the doughs in each bowl are manually divided into smaller pieces. At the end of fifteen days, the dough pieces, whose swelling is completed and dried, are sieved with the help of hand and gained granule form.

During this fifteen-day swelling, the lactic acid bacteria found in yogurt in the tarhana dough ferment the sugars to form lactic acids, while the added sourdough ferment performs ethyl alcohol fermentation. Thus, the digestibility of the tarhana is increased and the tarhana has a sour and acidic aroma. In fact, this is the general characteristic of tarhanas produced by traditional methods in Anatolia.

Tarhana is a broad topic, summer doesn’t end. Its production differs from region to region.

MATERIALS
2 Medium celery,1 Carrot,2 Capia Peppers,1 Green Pepper,1 onion,4 Fresh Potatoes,5-6 cloves of Garlic,10 sprigs of Parsley,5-6 sprigs of Basil,3 Ripe Tomatoes,250 ml Olive Oil,2 Hot dried peppers,1.5 lt Drinking water,Salt and Pepper
Peel the shells of the celery and chop it into large pieces with the stems.

Clean the carrots, capia, green peppers, onions, potatoes and garlic and chop them into large pieces.

Chop the parsley and basil stems.

Peel and chop the tomatoes and mix them with all the vegetables.

Season the vegetable mix with 100 ml of olive oil, salt, and freshly ground black pepper; spread it on a baking sheet.

Cook the vegetables on the tray in a medium heat wood oven for 10 minutes until they soften and turn color. Check the tray once in a while, mix the vegetables if necessary, turn the tray.

Heat the remaining olive oil in a soup pot. Add the vegetables and hot peppers you have baked and turn them for 2 minutes. Put the drinking water on it and keep it on the stove for 30-35 minutes until the vegetables are well cooked.

Pass the cooked vegetables through the Grundig Power Blender. Add water according to its consistency.

With Grundig Soup Maker, you can prepare this recipe consistently without having to wait.

Peel and chop the onions. Warm the goose fat in a casserole over a moderate heat, add the onions, chopped carrot and celery and cook until soft and pale gold. Cut the bacon into small pieces, cooking it until the fat is gold, then pour in the stock and add the thyme, bay and rosemary. Submerge the bones, add any meat juices or jelly, the peppercorns and a piece of parmesan rind if you have it, then bring to the boil. Lower the heat to gentle simmer for 45-60 minutes.

Crush the garlic to a paste with a pinch of sea salt then mash in the basil leaves, pine nuts and olive oil, then the parmesan.

Add the beans to the soup and continue cooking for a further 10 minutes. At this point you can skim off the fat if you wish, but I don’t – instead, relishing the silkiness it lends to the soup. Ladle into bowls and stir in the basil sauce.

Khao soi is a rich and comforting Northern Thailand coconut curry chicken noodle soup that is everything. We crushed this bowl: just the right amount of spicy and creamy and full of the good stuff. The chicken is tender and hearty, the noodles chewy, the lime so bright and fresh.

Ever since I bought a little package of Thai red curry paste, I’ve been red currying all the things. I’ve done red curry potatoes, red curry chickpeas, and even red curry dipping sauce for fries. I’m surprised that Mike and I aren’t red from all the red curry paste we’ve been eating. I can’t get over how good it is. And really, it’s so much easier opening a package than getting out a mortar and pestle to make curry paste from scratch.

Thai red curry paste is the secret to how flavorful and rich this soup is while still somehow being done in 15 minutes whether you cook it on the stovetop or in an instant pot. One taste and I bet this will be a new weeknight staple. It’s that addictive.

Please don’t cook the noodles in the soup! Fresh egg noodles need to be cooked in a large amount of roiling boiling water to properly cook. If you’ve ever had slimy, soggy noodles, it’s probably because someone cooked them in soup. Egg noodles release a lot of starch into the water they’re cooking in so it will change the soup texture and flavor.

How to make khao soi
Fry the aromatics and curry paste. In a medium sized pot, add a little bit of oil. When the oil is hot, add the ginger and garlic and fry, stirring occasionally. When soft, add the curry paste and fry over medium high heat, stirring, until the oils start to separate.
Add the stock and coconut milk. Stir in the chicken stock, coconut milk, and chicken.
Simmer. Bring everything to a simmer over medium heat for 10-15 minutes or until the chicken breast is cooked through.
Cook the noodles. While the soup is simmering, cook the egg noodles and drain well.
Season. Taste the soup and season with fish sauce and a touch of sugar.
Assemble. When the chicken is done, remove from the soup and shred. Add the chicken to the bowls with the noodles and top with the soup. Finish off with lime and cilantro and enjoy!

Ingredients
1 onion, peeled and chopped
3 carrots, peeled and cubed
2 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
100g sun-dried tomatoes, roughly chopped
200g cherry tomatoes, chopped
1 veggie stock cube
400ml almond milk, plus more if needed
Pinch of salt
Olive oil
method
Place a large pan over a medium heat and add a drizzle of olive oil. Once warm, add the onion, garlic, carrots and a pinch of salt. Cook for 5-10 minutes until soft.
Add the sun-dried tomatoes and cherry tomatoes and cook for another 10 minutes until the cherry tomatoes begin to soften. At this point add the veggie stock cube and almond milk. Mix well and leave to simmer for 10 minutes.
Pour the mixture into a powerful blender or use a hand blender to blend the mixture until it reaches a smooth consistency.
Once smooth, pour the mixture back into a pan and warm through over a medium heat – you may want to add a dash more almond milk, bit by bit, until you reach the consistency you like best.

Spring Rolls for some crunch
Larb Moo Thai Pork Salad as a “side salad”
Ingredients
Khao Soi
2 cups chicken broth no sodium preferred
14 oz coconut milk 1 can
1-2 tbsp Thai red curry paste
1/2 inch ginger thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic crushed
1 large chicken breast or 2 small ones
1 tbsp fish sauce or to taste
1 tbsp sugar or to taste, brown sugar preferred
2 portions egg noodles or ramen noodles
Optional Toppings
1/2 shallot sliced
2 lime wedges
1/4 cup cilantro chopped
1 batch egg ribbons
1/2 cup crispy wonton strips
Special Equipment
instant pot

Instructions
In the Instant Pot insert, add the chicken stock, coconut milk, red curry paste, garlic, ginger, and chicken breast. Cook on high pressure for 5 minutes.
While the Instant Pot is doing it’s thing, slice the shallots, cut the lime, and wash the cilantro. If you’re using any extra toppings, prep them now. Cook and drain your noodles and divide them between two deep bowls.

From curry to wonton soup to barbacoa tacos, these were some of our favorite things to eat this year.
It’s hard to believe 2020 has come and gone.

It feels like the year went on forever, but also vanished in the blink of an eye. At least we got to cook up a storm.

Steph and I spent most of the pandemic settled at home – which is not normal for us – and cooked up a storm. These were my favorite recipes of 2020 in no particular order.

My favorite recipe of 2020

Hainanese Chicken Rice: The Best Easy One Pot Chicken and Rice Recipe
If you’re looking for your next hands-off, delicious one pot dinner, this is it: Hainanese chicken rice.

Have you ever had Hainanese chicken rice before? Are you as obsessed with it as I am? I’m guessing the answer is no because I have a lifelong, deep obsession with chicken rice.

It’s my ultimate comfort food, my all-time-favorite go to meal, my version of Anton Ego’s mom’s ratatouille. You know, the scene in in the Pixar movie where Anton is taken back to his mom’s kitchen and she serves him ratatouille and all is right with the world. That’s Hainanese chicken rice for me.

1 tbsp coconut or olive oil
3 boneless skinless chicken thighs cut into bite sized pieces
1 tbsp Thai red curry paste
1.5 cups no sodium chicken broth
1 can coconut milk
1 package shiritaki noodles I used the tofu fettuccini
sliced red onions to serve
chopped cilantro to serve
lime wedges to serve
jammy eggs if desired

Instructions
In a pot, heat up the oil over medium high heat. Add the chicken and cook until brown and cooked through, flipping as needed. Stir in the curry paste and fry briefly.
Add the chicken broth and coconut milk. Simmer for 10 minutes, then taste and adjust seasoning if needed.
The best part about this recipe is that it’s super easy to divide it into two so that Mike can have a carb-full regular noodle soup while I can have it with super low-carb keto friendly shirataki noodles.

Have you guys had shirataki noodles yet? Are you on the keto train or thinking about maybe consuming less carbs in your life? If so, you need to try shirataki! For those who don’t know, shirataki/konnyaku is a traditional Japanese food made from a type of yam. They don’t have much flavor, instead taking on the flavor of what you cook them in. I love them! The rest of the world seems split, but trust, me, if you have them prepared right, they are just as good as noodles. Maybe even better because they’re zero carbs.

Yes! It should keep in the freezer for 3-4 months.

Can this be made in the Instant Pot?
Yes! Follow the recipe as-is using the sauté function on the Instant Pot, and then instead of simmering for 30 minutes, cook it on manual high pressure for 15 minutes with a quick release at the end. Blend, add your cream and serve!
Simple Homemade Tomato Soup with carrots, onions, garlic, tomatoes, broth, and bacon for deliciously rich flavor. Extremely easy to make!

INGREDIENTS
4 slices bacon, cut into small pieces
2 carrots, chopped
half of a yellow onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon flour
4 cups chicken broth (more to thin out the soup at the end as needed)
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 bay leaf
1 28-ounce can whole San Marzano tomatoes
cream (optional – to add at the end as desired)
kosher salt to taste (I like 1-2 teaspoons)
Fry the bacon in a large soup pot over medium low heat until bacon starts to get crispy and browned, about 5-8 minutes.

Add the carrots, onion, and garlic to the bacon in the pan; sauté for 5-10 minutes until the vegetables are very aromatic and tender.

Add the tomato paste – stir for a few minutes until you can see/smell the tomato paste starting to brown and caramelize. Add the flour and stir for a minute or so.

Pour the tomatoes and their juice into a bowl and crush them with your hands. Add the crushed tomatoes, broth, thyme, and bay leaf to the soup pot. Simmer for 30 minutes. Puree in batches and return to the pot. Add cream if you want. Season with salt. Look at that homemade tomato soup, you champ.

Alright! Today is your day to make simple homemade tomato soup. I can just feeeeeeel it.

It’s smoky, a little bit sweet, and just as creamy or not-creamy as you want it to be. It’s simple – ready in just under an hour, with MOST of that time being the part where you just gaze lovingly at the pot of simmering tomatoes and let the smells of carrots and onions and garlic and bacon wrap you up in their loveliness.

Cheers to your relaxing, comforting, hug-in-a-bowl tomato soup day!
Why crush the tomatoes by hand?
The main goal here is to use higher quality tomatoes, and usually whole canned tomatoes are higher quality whereas pre-crushed tomatoes are made from bits and pieces of lower quality tomatoes. That being said, I’ve made this without hand-crushing the tomatoes (either using crushed canned tomatoes, or breaking apart the tomatoes in the pan with a spoon) and it’s still delicious.

How can I make this vegan?
Skip the bacon, use vegetable broth instead of chicken broth, and skip the cream at the end (or throw a handful of cashews into the blender with the soup to make it creamy).

Home fresh veggies and aromatics like carrots, onion, and garlic.
Yummy herbs like thyme and bay leaf.
Lots of tomato goodness thanks to a delicious can of (HAND-CRUSHED) San Marzano.
Cream. Because, of course.
Ohhhmygosh, the smells that will happen. I am having a hard time imagining anything more comforting than being in my kitchen experiencing the simmer-smells of this simple homemade tomato soup in progress.
I am going to have to ask you —> please make some extremely cheesy Provolone toasts or grilled cheese or grilled sourdough bread or something, because what is tomato soup without the cheesy bread for dunking?

But with that being said, ultimately what is going to warm you to your toes and make you feel like a long nap on the couch is this simple homemade tomato soup. WITH BACON, remember. With bacon.

And if absolutely necessary to round things out a bit, here are a few green things to join the party as well:

Brussels and Kale Caesar with Cheesy Croutons (those croutons are basically a salad topper and soup dipper in one)
Toasted Bread and Parmesan Kale Salad (simple, zippy, cheesy, YUM)
Bacon and Brussels Sprout Salad (MORE BACON!)

Rinse the wild rice. Place the uncooked wild rice, raw chicken, mirepoix, chicken broth, and poultry seasoning in a crockpot. Cover and cook on low for 7-8 hours. The chicken should be cooked through and the rice should be soft. There will be extra liquid in the crockpot; do not drain.
Remove the chicken breasts from the crockpot and allow to cool slightly. Using two forks, shred the chicken. Return the shredded chicken to the crockpot.
When rice and chicken are done cooking, melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the flour and let the mixture bubble for 1 minute. Slowly whisk in the whole milk until a thick, creamy mixture forms. Stir in the wine.
Add this to the rice and chicken in the crockpot and stir to combine. Add extra water or milk to adjust the consistency as you like it. Season with additional salt and pepper.
The equipment section above contains affiliate links to products we use and love!

The poultry seasoning is a mix of several things, including thyme and sage. Even though it’s only a teaspoon, do not omit this because it adds a lot of the flavor. If you don’t have any, just use any other herb seasonings that you like. Thyme and sage are the best in my opinion.

This is a perfect meal for the current state of our new kitchen. I want to tell you about our new kitchen in our new house, which I feel like I should mention is a foreclosure. So give her some extra compassion, okay?

It’s, um, how do I say this? Small.
Small = less stuff = maybe even a little bit freeing.
Small = less distance to walk to get to things and fewer places to clean. Just saying.
It has a real live window and I have my photography table set up in the kitchen. Never before, guys. THIS IS AMAZING.
It has a jumbo, awkward, 1980’s fridge and I bump into it at least eighty times a day.
The stove is gas. It says the word CALORIC on the panel. So thanks for that.
It has a window. Actually, two. Did I already say that? Hiphiphooray!
It has a big sink that holds lots of dirty dishes and keeps them out of sight.
It has a non-functional garbage disposal. Oh well?
It is begging for a remodel. We are in the fun planning phase where we make 3D blueprints to see what it will look like when we knock the ol’ kitchen wall down and make it my small dream kitchen.

We did sneak a few good foods into this soup (kale, onions, garlic, carrots, and olive oil) and anyways, in my book, the best kinds of healthy foods are the ones that ACTUALLY TASTE GOOD.

And while this soup tastes good without the extras, it tastes BETTER with them. Cue the bread and cheese.
WHAT MAKES THIS LENTIL SOUP SO GOOD
As is my goal with most recipes I make for Pinch of Yum, this crockpot lentil soup was made for real life. Because it’s literally for my real life.

We’re starting with a solid base: onions, garlic, carrots, celery, spices, salt, and broth.

Then we’re getting awesome by adding butternut squash, which partially melts into a creamy textured miracle, lentils (always lentils), and yellow split peas because WOW color.
After all this simmers up into the best house smells and then we do the magic thing that takes it over the top: puree a portion of the soup with that olive oil to form a silky emulsion that then gets added back into the soup.

If you’re looking for shortcuts, here are some options:

Buy pre-cut butternut squash
Buy pomegranate arils that have already been removed from the fruit, or substitute dried cranberries
Skip the kale—it’s not integral to the recipe, but I think it’s nice
Cook the wild rice in an Instant Pot to save 10-20 minutes cooking time
You might also be surprised to see that I didn’t peel the butternut squash. That’s right—you don’t have to! Once cooked, the skin becomes almost as tender as the flesh. I don’t think anyone will notice it.
This vibrant vegetarian stuffing recipe features roasted butternut squash, kale, pomegranate and wild rice. It’s a beautiful dish for your holiday table! This recipe yields 6 to 12 servings (a lot!). You can cut this recipe in half, if desired.
INGREDIENTS
Wild Rice* and Toppings

2 cups wild rice, rinsed
4 ounces kale, ribs removed and chopped small (preferably the Tuscan variety, about ½ bunch or 2 cups)
¾ cup chopped green onion (from 1 large or 2 medium bunches), divided
4 ounces goat cheese (about ⅔ cup crumbled)
Arils from 1 medium pomegranate, or ½ cup chopped dried cranberries
½ cup raw pepitas (green pumpkin seeds)
1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon