Canning Sausage and Lentil Soup

It’s back! So far, here in the south, we’ve had a pretty mild winter with 70 degree weather and near spring like days. While I knew it wouldn’t last, I was thankful for every warm day. Well, that eventually had to end. We’ve seen no snow yet, but all last weekend we had an endless, cold drizzle. It was one of those weekends that make you want stay indoors, enjoy a warm kitchen and savor a hot, home cooked meal.

A perfect weekend for making soup!

My family’s favorite soup is sausage lentil. It’s made with Italian sausage and herbs, fresh vegetables and just enough red pepper to give it a kick. Whenever I cook this I double my recipe and can the leftovers. This is a great addition to our food storage although it really doesn’t last long. I like to can this in pint size jars for quick, single serve meals, and then throw in a few quarts for dinners. Feeling a bit ambitious, I quadrupled my recipe this time. I don’t know that I would that again! That’s a lot of soup and a lot of work! In the end it paid off though and I put up 14 pints and 6 quarts in addition to having dinner for the night. I’m hoping that will last until the spring when I’m looking forward to harvesting the veggies for this soup out of my own garden.

Sausage Lentil Soup

Ingredients:

1lb Italian sausage

1 large onion

1 stalk celery

2 large carrots

1 zucchini quartered and chopped

6 cups chicken broth

2 (14.5 oz) cans dices tomatoes with juice        

3 cloves garlic              

1 tsp garlic salt

2 cups dry lentils

1 tsp black pepper

1 tsp basil

1tsp oregano

1 tsp parsley

1 tsp thyme

½ tsp crushed red pepper flakes

Directions:

Brown and drain sausage, combine all ingredients and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat and let simmer for at least an hour or until lentils are done. The longer you cook this the thicker it gets. This is great served with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese on top!