When the calendar flips to fall and the weather starts to cool down, I always get a hankering for hearty soups. This is an always welcomed annual occurrence and one that’s usually met with a trip to my kitchen bookshelf reserved for community cookbooks. You can find the best recipes in old church, Junior League and other club cookbooks.
And that’s exactly where I found this recipe for lentil soup, in the Memphis Woman’s Exchange cookbook.
I learned to love lentil soup as a camper at Camp High Rocks in Cedar Mountain, North Carolina, just outside Brevard. Since then, it’s been a favorite cool-weather soup packed full of vitamins and protein. I’ll be the first to admit that I enjoy Campbell’s canned soup from time to time, but nothing beats homemade.
The original recipe calls for 2 pounds of Polish sausage. I prefer using smoked sausage that I’ve blackened in a cast-iron skillet before adding it to the soup.