American Girl Made the Best Ever Middle Eastern Lentil Soup in the Crockpot

Oh yes I did. I know this is weird, but I wish they made a candle that captured the smell of this soup as it was cooking. And since this blog was originally started to share my favorite Crockpot recipes and not, amazingly, to educate on the dangers of staph infections, I thought I would post a Crockpot recipe. Shocking!

But seriously, I made a version of this last weekend and again yesterday for our small group dinner. It is so good, and for a total white girl, a little exotic. I mean how many plain old white cook their main dishes with cinnamon? There are some people who think eating Indian Fry Bread or Guy-Rows at the state fair is full on exposure to ethnic food Because come on everyone knows that cinnamon is for breakfast! And now that Starbucks is on every corner cinnamon has expanded its usefulness to lattes. That being said do not be afraid of this recipe, it will not freak your Mac-n-Cheese loving kids out. Buy some Pita Bread or a nice crusty bread slap some Oleo on it and go to town.

(I made lentil soup before and without the garam masala would be super good for the less adventurous)

I pretty much stuck to the recipe I found on allrecipes.com but since I am completely unable to stick to a recipe I changed it up a bit. For example, it no longer has lamb because I am not a fan of lamb. It does not have the pasta, the eggs, or lemon either. I mid-westerned this Moroccan Lentil Soup recipe up and then made it exotic by making it vegetarian**.

Ingredients:
2 tbls Canola Oil
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp salt
2 tsp ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper (I actually have no idea the exact measurement I just lightly sprinkled this in)
3 tbls butter cut into three pats
1 cup of sliced celery (I didn't really measure this either maybe 5-6 stalks sliced in half moons)
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 red onion, chopped
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 (29 oz) can whole tomatoes with juice, Cento brand (I use my potato masher to chop up and I take out the basil leaf but diced tomatoes would work)
4 cups vegetable broth
4 cups water
1lb lentils (2 cups)

In a large saucepan sauté onions and celery with the canola oil. Once veggies are sweating add turmeric, salt, pepper, cinnamon, cayenne, butter, and cilantro. Cook on medium heat stirring frequently until veggies are soft and turmeric has started to make the mixture a little sticky, 5-10 minutes.

Dump the veggies in Crockpot. In the sauté pan dump tomatoes juice and all and mash with potato masher. If using diced tomatoes then skip this step. Pour tomatoes into Crockpot and add broth, water, and lentils. Give it a good stir and cook on high for 6 hours or low 8-10 hours. This makes a lot so it is perfect to freeze part of it for a wintry day. Adding cooked diced chicken would be good too.
Printable recipe here

My daughter absolutely loves this soup. She liked my other one too, but she likes this version better.

**I am totally kidding about the whole white bred/bread midwestern thing. I know plenty of caucasians that eat ethnic food :)