How to make a spicy meat and vegetable lentil soup

First you will need to chop your onion.

Put some olive oil in your soup pot, then put the chopped onion in, and sautée it.

Chop the garlic up and add that too.

Ah the aroma...yum.

Next you can chop up some carrots and add those.

Ooh, the color :)

Our pups just wait so patiently for a carrot to drop so they can munch it right up lol

Chop up some celery and add that in.

Celery added :)

Now it's tomato time and this big can should do the trick.

We blended these up to have a smooth texture, but if you like chunky, go chunky!

Blending....

Add salt first..

Then pepper...

Then granulated garlic, if you like :)

Now add the blended tomatoes, this is just half of them. The other half needs to be blended and added too.

Keep the temp at medium high while cooking to not scorch it.

The other half of the blended tomatoes are added in now.

Give it a stir.

Turn up the heat so it will get to a boil and the veg can soften a bit.

Time to cook the meat up that is going into the soup.

Get your pan out, add olive oil if needed, and put the meat into it.

Stir it up and break it into smaller chunks.

Add the lentils into the soup pot now. We put two different kinds in.

These are yellow, the others were black.

See the packaging.

Stir them in with the other stuff to incorporate it.

Now it's time for the chicken broth.

Use all four and squeeze them into the soup pot.

Then give it a stir again.

Sausage looks done, so it can go into the soup pot as well.

In it goes :)

Time for chopping up the herbs.

Add them in the pot as well.

Strip the thyme of the leaves. You don't want the sprigs, or stems, in the pot.

Oooh, herb goodness...

I used this kind.

Add about 10 cups of water to the soup pot now. I used this measuring cup filled to the top.

Water added..

Also, to give the soup a real kick, add some sriracha sauce to it!

Give it a stir.

Add some more salt to taste.

And pepper...

Give it another stir...

Put the lid on.

Turn the temperature down to between 2 and 3 on the burner.

Give it a stir periodically, every 10-15 minutes, and taste for doneness of lentils. After about 40 minutes of simmering, it's time to add the pasta.

Here is the pasta that we are using.

Add in your pasta...

Stir and put the lid back on for 10-15 minutes.

Here it is!!! Finally ready to serve. YAY!!!

Some bread with olive oil and Parmesan on it will be really good with it after it's toasted.

Toasted :)

Now that's a great looking soup. Enjoy! :P