Spinach and Lentil Soup 1/22

So the night of the big Patriots game, I decided to throw together this soup.  I was just starting to get sick that night, so I was glad to have a hearty soup to coat my throat.  The Spinach and Lentil Soup with Cheese and Basil was yet another Cooking Light Recipe.

For starters, I didnt have pancetta.  I think when I was shopping, for some reason I was thinking I could use prosciutto, since I had some I wanted to use up, but I ended up using that all on the pizza and forgot to save some for this recipe.  I had some turkey bacon in the freezer, but I wasn't sure I would get enough flavor for that, so as I thawed that I realized I had some bacon fat I had saved and could use to add the flavor.  I'm normally a health nut in my cooking, but I've started to learn that a little bit of bacon fat or oils can go a long way in really amping up the flavor of a dish without adding much in the way of fat/calories.

The next change I made was that I had some yellow lentils to use up, so I didnt buy brown lentils.  This meant that I actually could skip the puree step as the way the split yellow lentils cooked down, the soup was more than soft enough and came out creamier than the photo in the recipe.  The rest of the soup was made per the recipe instructions.

The other thing I decided to make was a little chicken and cheese biscuit.  I just used the Bisquick Biscuits recipe and flattened out a small patty in my hand, smooshed some shredded chicken into it and topped it with a piece of sharp cheddar cheese, then patted on some more biscuit dough.  I baked them for a little longer than the package direction since they were a bit larger and stuffed.

Serve it along with a Patriots victory and it tastes oh so good!