With everyone’s wallets a little tighter this year, I thought I’d share this really cheap and healthy soup recipe that I made this week. I had a bag sitting in the cupboard for about 2 years – eeek – so I thought to use them before they turned to dust!

Lentils are awesome for just about any diet as they are gluten-free, high in protein and a complex carbohydrate – leaving you feeling nice and full.

Although a pretty easy child to feed, baby Grace devoured the soup and really enjoyed it.

Ingredients (roughly 5 servings)

• 1.5 cups red, split pea lentils
• 1 onion
• 1 garlic clove
• 1lt stock (I used chicken)
• 1 tin of crushed tomatoes
• Spices – Cumin (1/2 tsp), Oregano (1tsp), Mixed Herbs (1tsp), Salt and Pepper
• 1 Bay leaf

Method

1. Rinse lentils under cold water and set aside
2. Heat pot with a dash of oil (I used coconut)
3. Fry up diced onion and crushed garlic for a few minutes
4. Add in the spices (I chucked them in without much thought to the quantity) and fry for another minute
5. Add in tinned tomato, stock, bay leaf and lentils
6. Bring to the boil and turn down heat to simmer for 15 minutes
7. Take off the heat and remove bay leaf
8. Blitz the mix with a hand blender
9. Serve with crumbled feta, fresh parsley (not essential but nice to impress your guests) and some crusty bread!