Phew!

After a few weeks of celebrating so many great things, this past Monday brought a more tired feeling with it, and left me craving something healthy after a weekend of  wine, amazing desserts and food in every nook and cranny.

I know it’s not January yet, so forgive me if you are continuing your holiday eating through Jan 1st.

But, if you’re not hurricaning the holiday eating through to the New Year, I’ve got a good one for you today.

One of the blessings of eating well throughout the year is that your body can naturally sense when it needs more vegetables, good foods, and time away from the treat/wine bar. This time of year, it’s just as important to have some hearty, healthy weeknight meals to balance out your body with plenty of good stuff too. And by good, I mean good for you, not just good tasting. Not mutually exclusive categories, obviously.

An easy weeknight solution?

Lentil soup, filled with any and every kind of veggies you like.  There’s brown lentil soups, red, yellow and green versions ones too. Some complicated, and some very simple. It beauty of a lentil soup is that you can add whatever you want- curry spices, cream, herbs or keep it plain with the most basic onion, carrot and celery routine. Or, you can start it plain and add things as you go during the week to get entirely different meals each time, or freeze in individual containers for those nights you don’t even want to think about cooking.

A healthy word of advice, be sure to soak your dry lentils in water at least 6 hours before you cook them- it dissolves the phytic acid and makes it much easier on your body to digest and assimilate them. Plus, they cook faster. So do it in the morning if you plan to make at night.

Sarah’s Lentil Vegetable Soup

Ingredients:

2 cups lentils, soaked for at least 6 hours, rinsed and drained

6  cups broth or water (I used water for mine)

1 onion, chopped

1 carrot, chopped

4 sticks celery, chopped

1 lg can diced tomatoes

2 TB balsamic vinegar

Any other veggies you’d like (I added everything in my fridge this week: parsnips, cauliflower, mushrooms and green beans. All chopped.)

Big dashes of: paprika, cumin, lots of thyme, pepper and sea salt.

Directions:

1. In a large soup pot, saute onion, carrot and celery. Then, add whatever other veggies you’d like to soften for a few minutes.

2. Add lentils and broth/water. Cover and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low for 25-30 min. Add diced tomatoes. Add more liquid if you like a thinner consistency.

3. Add spices and a splash of balsamic vinegar to taste- this really pulls it all together.

Serve with grilled chicken or clean sausage, avocado slices, grated parmesean cheese, old world bread, a dollop of sour cream, full fat greek yogurt, homemade pesto, or a mixed green salad. I froze my batch in smaller containers and added something a little different each time I defrosted it- like a whole new meal each time. For a family or larger dinner, set up a toppings bar so everyone can add their own twist.

Happy (& healthy) New Year’s to everyone!