Mercimek Çorbası

The weather has finally turned from balmy 50 degree days to a cold enough temperature to give some hope for snow.  You can tell I'm from the midwest and feel a bit sad for not getting my fair share of "winter" weather.  I shouldn't complain, I know.  And I know if I was experiencing subzero temps for weeks on end I not be able to relate to me. 

Well, it's howling a bit outside and the kids are all tucked into bed hoping to wake up to snow.  I hope the won't be disappointed.  I'm on bedtime duty tonight with Malachi, so I'm up here with the computer and thought I'd share a basic recipe for a soup that will warm you up on a cold day.  I had a good talk with my sister and she inspired me to write some recipes from here to share with you.  This is the easiest one there is, so a good place to start:  lentil soup (a.k.a Mercimek Çorbası).  

The picture gives you all the major ingredients.  It goes like this (and if any of you have any variations on this recipe I'd love to hear them):

1 cup red lentils

1 potato

1 onion

1 carrot

5 cups water (or use vegetable or chicken broth) *this can be added to a bit if you want the soup thinner

1 chicken bullion cube (if using water)

1 Tbsp. butter

salt to taste

-Peel and cut up the veggies (can be cut into large pieces because they will be blended later).  Put all ingredients into a large pot and set to boil 20 minutes.  When veggies are soft, remove from the pot into a blender (or just use a hand blender if you have one) and blend until smooth.  That's it.  Oh, and for serving, serve with a slice of lemon to squeeze into your soup and some bread for dipping.  Nice and simple.  

Hope you enjoy it!