If you a regular reader of my blog you will know that I had gallbladder/stones issues this year, update I did end up having it removed in September. During the time before surgery (5 months) I had to change my diet, and that meant no or little fat, no red meat, no eggs, butter or sugar! Since then I am still on a red meat free diet, I have been trying to reintroduce it to my diet this past two weeks (in very small amounts) but it doesn’t agree with me. Not sure if it’s permanent or temporary.
What made matters more difficult is that I was suffering from severe gastritis at the same time, I had to limit certain foods that caused indigestion and or heartburn, which included peppers, tomatoes, sauces, coffee, chocolate, tea, spicy food etc.
That is where this soup comes in, I ate this soup everyday for five months straight! Doctors were worried about my iron levels since iron pills were not agreeing with me. Lentils are high in iron and for people on a vegetarian or vegan diet, lentils are a good source of iron. I was vegan for a month but felt very weak, so I started to eat chicken breast, and fish once or twice a week and I was okay with that.
My main meal though was this soup, I would have it for lunch and dinner and never once got tired of it!
The added swiss chard is another wonderful ingredient in this soup, swiss chard is a super food and is high in vitamin K, an antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, helps regulate blood sugar and is a source of iron, and it’s delicious!
This soup is a very delicious soup, and even though I don’t have to make it everyday now, I still make it often.
What you will need:
- 1 and 1/2 cups orange lentils
- 1/2 to 1 cup chopped up swiss chard
- 1 onion
- 1 medium or large carrot
If you like celery you can add a stick of celery, I do at times.
Rinse lentils a few times, the water is very cloudy. Add lentils to a large pot and add in the swiss chard, chopped onion and cut carrot, add water I would say about 8 to 10 cups of water depending if you like a thick or runny soup. Bring to a boil and cook on low to medium heat. Spoon out any foam on the top of the water, it’s from the lentils.
Make sure to add salt at that beginning of cooking, taste in the middle of cooking to make sure you are happy with the amount of salt. Cook till veggies and lentils are soft, takes about half an hour to 40 minutes.
When done boiling, with your hand blender puree your soup, if you don’t have a hand blender allow it to cool a little before adding it to your blender.
It’s that simple, you may like to add a squeeze of lemon when you are eating it, I do only when I am in the mood.
Hmm, this sounds perfect. I’m all about soups during the winter and I haven’t made lentils in quite awhile!