Awesome Lentil Soup (and Baby Food)

I finally perfected my lentil soup recipe. It is very easy and great to puree for babies. My 7-month old really liked it!


Ingredients

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 large onion, coarsely diced
• 4 or 5 cloves of garlic, minced
• 6 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 15-ounce can of diced tomatoes
• 5 cups of chicken or beef broth (needs to be homemade-store bought is not nutritious)
• 1 cup red lentils (soaked previously for at least 7 hours)
• salt and pepper to taste

Process

Put the onion, garlic, carrots and olive oil in a large pot. Saute for about 15 minutes (making sure not to burn the garlic). While the onion and garlic are sauteing, strain the lentils with strainer to get rid of the water. Then add the lentils and broth and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat, cover and simmer until the lentils are soft (around 30 minutes). After the lentils are soft, add the tomatoes and simmer for another 10 minutes. It is important not to add the tomatoes until the end. For some reason the lentils will not cook properly with tomatoes- I made that mistake before myself.

For babies, puree the soup (I avoid the pieces of tomato, though) and serve!