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Monday 14 May 2012

Making Room for Another ~ Ham and Lentil Soup

In an earlier post, I admitted that I am a sentimental fool.  I tend to hold on to things for the memories they evoke.  Decluttering, organizing and staying organized require great effort on my part.  But now, I have a reason to turn over a new leaf.  Monsieur and I have decided to combine households.  This is a huge step for the both of us as it is something that we have never done before.  I thought that I would feel stressed about making room for another but, as Monsieur said, there is a sense of liberation in purging and decluttering.  And as the kitchen is the heart of the home, it seemed natural to start my organizing efforts there.  As luck would have it, I picked up a couple of vintage Le Parfait mason jars recently.


It has always been a dream of mine to have a pantry with shelves laden with jars of all sorts of foodstuffs.  The kitchen is small with not a lot of cupboard space but it does my heart good to open a cupboard door and see rows of jars filled with staples like lentils and rice.  And it is so much more organized than having open, half used plastic bags stuffed on top of each other, or worse falling out and spilling their contents all over.


I am going to keep my eye out for more of these jars.  I adore the vintage script and the fact that they are French.  Admittedly, I giggle whenever I read the words on the side, "Le Parfait Super (!!!)" Exclamation marks are my own as by no means am I perfect or super in the kitchen. 
Upon decanting all the lentils into one of the jars, I decided to try out the recipe on the back of the packet.  The result, lentil soup, came out surprisingly tasty as, up until now, lentil soup has never been a favourite of mine.


A few slices of crusty ciabatta bread made for a simple, nutritious meal.



Here is the recipe off the back of the packet.  I tweaked it a little as I didn't have any ham on hand.

Ham and Lentil Soup
1 tbsp (15ml) canola oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 ribs celery, diced
1 cup (250ml) diced ham (I used 5 strips of bacon)
1 cup (250ml) rinsed green lentils
6 cups (1.5l) chicken stock
1 medium red bell pepper, chopped (I eliminated the red pepper as I am allergic to it)
2 medium tomatoes, chopped 
chopped parsley for garnish
Heat oil in a large soup pot over medium-high heat and saute onion, garlic, celery and ham for 5 minutes (I poured off some of the bacon drippings, reserving some of it for sauteing the vegetables).  Add green lentils, chicken stock, bell pepper and tomatoes.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes or until green lentils are tender.  Makes 8 servings.  I did add ground pepper, a pinch of salt and dried oregano for added flavour.  So here I would add to the original recipe, season to taste.


It was so heartwarmingly satisfying to shop for a meal from a much more organized kitchen cupboard or pantry.  If you have any suggestions to help maintain an orderly kitchen and pantry, please let me know!  There will be many more life changes coming soon and we can't wait to discover and learn new ways of living and being. 

11 comments:

Unknown said...

We eat this soup in France! So yummy!
I would love if you link this to the French party on Monday!
Xo
Isabelle

http://lechateaudesfleurs.blogspot.com/

Olive said...

The jars make the contents so pretty. I have two large pantries in two different houses (one of my houses is falling down) and neither is organized.

Marty@A Stroll Thru Life said...

Love this. We have this wonderful soup all the time, such a favorite and such fabulous soul soup. Love the jars, makes everything look so much nicer. Thanks for joining TTT. Hugs, Marty

Heirloom treasures said...

I love these jars too,and recently had a very large pantry built into the corner of our laundry room. I had collected a huge amount of jars and love the convenience of seeing everything in an instant. You will love it when you complete yours.
I recently posted about my pantry in the laundry. Good luck with the organizing. :)

Kathy said...

Goodmorning - Lentil soup is quite delicious and satisfying. I love those kind of jars and keep baking staples etc... in them - I'd love to have rice, beans, pasta stored in such jars - much better than plastic containers! I hope you have a blessed weekend,
Kathy

allisamazing said...

Your soup looks delicious and the jars are perfect for holding beans and lentils :)

Betsy@My Salvaged Treasures said...

I would love to have a large pantry full of pretty jars to display all the food....no boxes allowed. Your soup looks so appetizing. Thanks for sharing.

Diann said...

I am with you in wanting this whole wonderful pantry filled with jars of food items. I do have a pantry but, it doesn't have the wonderful jars. The soup looks so good. I am a huge lentil fan. Thank you for sharing this with us this week at TTF. I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Creations By Cindy said...

Ooh this looks so good. I love soup all year round! Thanks for sharing. Hugs and blessings, Cindy

Cheapchick said...

I love old jars as well and covet the same kind of pantry you are talking about. The soup looks lovely, I was just taking stock, I have everything in the cupboards except the lentils, I may just have to try it!

The Farmers Daughter said...

I'm definitely writing this soup recipe down. . .been looking for a good one!

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