Back to School Dinner- lentil soup with turkey

The kids start the new school year tomorrow, and I don't know who's more excited!

The weather is definitely feeling fall-like so I decided to make lentil soup.

It's an easy soup to make, but takes at least a couple hours to cook. This soup can certainly be made vegetarian by omitting the smoked turkey wings. We use our Vidalia Chop Wizard to cut all of the vegetables. It takes no time and cuts everything so evenly, the kids love to help chop too.

1 whole onion diced
2 cubes frozen garlic
2 tbs. olive oil
1 C. shredded or finely diced carrots
1 C. finely diced celery
1 finely diced potato
2 smoked (or regular) turkey wings
1C. finely diced mushrooms
10 oz. petit diced canned tomatoes
1 1/2 C. uncooked lentils
7 c. chicken stock
2 bay leaves
1 Tbs. kosher salt
1 Tbs. celery salt (or the smoked fleur de sel from Whole Foods)
1 Tsp. ground black pepper
1 Parmesan rind

In a large soup pot on high heat, add onion, garlic and olive oil. Saute for 1 minute until garlic begins to melt. Add carrots, celery and potato and stir to combine. Add the turkey wings, mushrooms and tomatoes with their juices and stir again to combine. Next add in lentils, chicken stock, bay leaves, salt and black pepper. Stock should cover all of the ingredients. Add more or less stock as needed.

Cover and let cook for 1 hour on medium heat. The soup should be softly boiling. After 1 hour, add in Parmesan rind and cook for at least 1 more hour, stirring occasionally.

Before serving, remove turkey meat from the bones and add back into the soup. Be sure to remove the bay leaves before serving.

We all enjoyed the soup with a few slices of fresh baguette and a plate of sliced melon.

Give it a try, you wont' be disappointed!