Rub a Dub Grub

This is one of the easiest soups I have ever made. Seriously you cant mess this up. Besides that its pretty healthy and it tastes good, what more can you ask for?

O.K. here are the ingredients... Oh yeah these, photos are a doubled recipe, so you can use half if you like.

In a big pot pour 4 quarts of water. Add two packages of Lentils (16 oz each) you could use more you would just need more water. Dice two onions, as many carrots as you like, I used 5. As Much Celery as you like, I used an entire stock, leaves and all (chop the leaves up fairly fine). somewhere between 3/4 and a full cup of finely chopped parsley. As much Garlic as you like, I used 4 cloves, You could just add some powdered garlic, at least a Tablespoon. Fresh basil finely chopped if you have it or about half a Tablespoon of dried Basil, Salt and pepper to taste. You can leave ingredients out too if you don't like something. Ok so bring all those ingredients to a boil, cover with a lid and simmer for 1 and 1/2 hours.

Ok your probably wondering about that italin sausage and the tomatoes and the red wine vinegar, in the picture above. Thats the important ingredients. I like this soup better with Ham than with Italian Sausage, but I used sausage when I took these photos. Normally I mkae this soup a week or so after Easter or Christmas, or anytime that you eat a big ham. I freze all my leftover ham that does not get consumed within a couple of days (also freeze the ham hock) Thsn I chop up the Frozen ahm pieces and chuck them, as well as the hock into the boiling soup. If you dont have Ham get some Sausage. I removed the casings and cut up into bite sized chunks and cooked up the sausage nice and browned and crispy on the outside in the pot before adding all those previous ingredients.