Week 221: Italian Lentil Soup

Happy Thursday!!

This week's soup is bursting with delicious flavor and will make you feel like you're eating in a fabulous little trattoria! On the menu for TUESDAY, APRIL 18th is ITALIAN LENTIL SOUP with ITALIAN SUPERMARKET BREAD. This dark but delightful soup, made with Italian sausage and lentils, will be pure comfort in a bowl on these cool spring evenings.

Sausage and lentils are a perfect flavor combination, you could call it a "marriage made in heaven." The soup begins with browning the Italian sausage in the pot. Next, onion and garlic are added. A little white wine, homemade chicken stock, roasted red peppers, diced tomatoes, and lentils are mixed in and brought to a boil.

The soup simmers until the lentils are tender and the flavors have all blended together. It's finished with parmesan cheese, red wine vinegar for brightness, and a generous handful of fresh basil to add a vibrant flavor.

The bread companion this week is Italian Supermarket Bread. Just like the name says ... it's a fresh loaf of bread that tastes like the loaves of bread you used to be able to pick up from the supermarket. It has a crispy exterior with a nice chewy bite and is coated in sesame seeds. It is a simple, yet very tasty bread that will perfectly compliment this tasty soup.

On the menu for dessert are REESE’S PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES! These cookies are a dream come true for all peanut butter lovers. The cookies have a very soft and puffy element to them, which comes from adding pudding mix to the peanut butter based cookie dough. I add in chocolate chips, Reese Pieces and chopped up miniature Reese’s to finish up the recipe. You will be in peanut butter chocolate heaven after enjoying my husband’s favorite cookie!  - Jenny from Jenny Sue Delights