The Gluten-Free Homemaker

Beans are not a favorite in my family, especially lentils.  However, this is a recipe we all like.  Perhaps it's the bacon, and that we usually add shredded cheese on top. This bean soup makes a tasty inexpensive meal. My instructions are for cooking it in a crock pot, but it could be cooked on the stove.  More more crock pot recipes check out What's in Your Crock Pot at Smockity Frocks.  For other delicious recipes visit Tasty Tuesday and Tempt My Tummy Tuesday.

Spicy Western Beans

Ingredients

• 1/3 c. lentils
• 4 strips bacon, fried and diced
• 1 onion, chopped and cooked
• 1 clove garlic, briefly cooked with the onion
• 1 can kidney beans with liquid
• 1 can pinto beans with liquid
• 1 can diced tomatoes with liquid
• 2 Tb. ketchup
• 3/4 tsp. chili powder
• 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
• 1 bay leaf

Instructions
Boil the lentils in 1 1/3 cups water for 20-30 minutes. Drain. Combine all ingredients in a crock pot. Cover and cook on high for 3-4 hours. Remove the bay leaf and serve.

My kids usually don’t like lentils, but I put them in anyway. However, I could only find red lentils at the store. I had never used that variety, so I boiled them as usual. I was left with nothing but mush. I strained it and stirred it into the soup, and the kids never knew they were there!

Labels: soup recipes, What's for Dinner Wednesday