Sausage and Lentil Soup

I saw this soup on my google reader a few days ago and knew it sounded like the perfect winter soup. I was right! This soup was delicious!

Perfect for a blizzarding snow day.

Sausage and Lentil Soup
Inspired by For the Love of Cooking

Ingredients:
* 1 yellow onion, diced
* A bit of olive oil
* 3 carrots, diced
* 1 potato, diced
* 4 cloves of garlic, minced
* 1 15 oz can of diced tomatoes
* 1/2 pound of chicken sausage, casing removed
* Sea salt to taste
* 1/2 tsp dried basil
* 1/4 tsp dried oregano
* Pinch of crushed red pepper
* 1/4 tsp dried thyme
* 1/4 crushed bay leaf
* Chicken or veggie broth
* 1.5 cups of dried lentils

Saute your onion and garlic in a bit of olive oil with the sausage in a large pot. When the sausage is almost cooked, add the carrots and cook a few more minutes. Add the potato, diced tomatoes and lentils and spices, and add broth/stock until well covered. Stir occasionally and simmer covered a good hour or two. Add stock as necessary as the lentils cook and things get thick. Once you've simmered a good while, give things a quick spin with the immersion blender, and you're done!

Enjoy!