Lentil Soup with Sausage

One day last week "chili" was on the menu. However, I didn't plan far enough in advance to cook the dried beans. I thought maybe there would be time to do a lentil stew, but that still took a couple of hours to cook. We ended up having a quick salmon chowder. However, since lentil stew was on my mind, we had it a few days later. This is a really good version that originally came on an insert with our heating bill!

Lentil Soup with Sausage

1/2 to 1 pound mild Italian sausage

1 onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, chopped

1 1/2 cups dried lentils (8 oz.)

6 bups beef stock

1 bay leaf

2 carrots, chopped

3 celery stalks, chopped

1 can (28 oz) tomatoes
1-3 tablespoons tomato paste

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon brown sugar

salt and pepper to taste

Brown sausage (cut into bite-sized pieces if necessary) and stir in onion and garlic. Add lentils, stock, bay leaf, carrots, celery, tomatoes and tomato paste. Bring to a boil, then simmer for one hour. Remove bay leaf and stir in lemon juice, sugar, salt and pepper. Simmer for 30 mor eminutes. If desired, garnish bowls of soup with chopped green onion and/or parsley. Serves 10.