Bag o' Spinach Soup v.4: The Protein Expolsion! Lentil, Spinach and Andouille Soup

The Story: I'm poor, and it's cold and rainy, and I spent all Sunday making PowerPoints in my office and need some soothing. What's a girl to do?

Warm up with a big bowl of soup! After a brief seasonal/transitional hiatus, this blog is back and looking to boogie. Tonight, I just fashioned myself a big pot of roommate-inspired v.4 o the Bag'o Spinach Soup, adding Andouille sausage (I chose chicken, you can do pork, ain't no thing). Man, the smokiness and proteinness was fantastic. Here's the skinny:

The Ingredients:


1 and 1/2 cup lentils (i like brown)
a couple bay leaves
3 cloves chopped garlic
a medium diced red onion
some olive oil (enough to coat bottom of pot)
i bag frozen, chopped spinach, thawed
some cumin to taste
a dash of turmeric
a dash of ginger
a dash of red pepper flakes
1 package andouille sausage, cut into chunks
salt and pepper

*soak lentils overnight in water so they're quick to cook* --> I didn't, but my PRESSURE COOKER took care of those babies in 15 minutes flat

To do:

saute the andouille in the pot with a tiny bit of olive oil until cooked. remove sausage. saute the onion and garlic in the sausage-y-olive oil in the pot until they're cooked clear. add the lentils and bay leaves and cumin, and cover with water. cook down for about 1/2 an hour or maybe more until lentils are cooked. add spinach and rest of spices and a dash more olive oil for body, and maybe some more spices (taste it), and cook a bit more. enjoy!