Balsamic Lentils with Chicken Sausage

Despite my best intentions, I haven’t blogged in a while. I knew there was potential for this – I often start projects and abandon them halfway through (the Filthy Fowl can give you a long diatribe on my half-knitted blankets and scarves or the jewelry-making supplies under the coffee table). However, this time I have a number of good reasons, and this is one project I’m not abandoning.

When I first started the blog, my grandfather saw it and asked if I had any low-sodium recipes because my grandmother was on a very, very limited sodium diet. I emailed her and asked her what ingredients she liked, what foods to avoid, and things like that. I knew I had a busy week coming up so I told her it would probably take me a week or so to come up with something.

I made something great, Balsamic Lentils with Chicken Sausage, which I found on Savory Spicy Sweet. I made a few modifications so it was low sodium (including leaving out the chicken sausage – but I did eat that myself!). Two Fridays ago I sat down and started a blog post, but I got distracted and never finished.

I started the post by saying how lucky the Filthy Fowl and I were that we had six of nine grandparents at our wedding (I know the numbers seem off, but trust me). All six walked down the aisle and danced at the reception. It was truly one of the best parts of the wedding and I’ve thought of that often since that day.

Anyway, that Saturday I went for a run, and on my way home got a call that my grandmother had passed away, somewhat unexpectedly. I was so sad for the obvious reasons, but also because I had never posted the recipe that I knew she was looking forward to seeing. However, our shared interest was apparent in the fact that the last thing she was doing was cooking a pot of soup.

This recipe, I have to say, was great, and will always remind me of her even though she never tasted it. When I was home with my family after her death, I made this for my parents, and they loved it too. A recipe that satisfies me, my husband AND my parents is quite the find! Sadly, I have no pictures of this, but I’ll definitely be making this again so I’ll add some then.  In the meantime, you can see beautiful pictures here.

Recipe from Savory Spicy Sweet via Cara’s Cravings

(this is not the low sodium version)

Ingredients:
• olive oil
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 cloves of minced garlic
• 1/4-1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
• 3 links fully cooked chicken sausage, sliced
• 2T balsamic vinegar, divided
• 14oz can diced tomatoes
• pinch of dried basil
• freshly ground salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup dry lentils
• 3/4 cup water
• 5 oz fresh spinach, roughly chopped (I used baby spinach – a whole bag)

Instructions:
1. Heat about 1T olive oil in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the onions and cook for about 5-8 minutes, until softened.
2. Add 1T balsamic vinegar, garlic, chicken sausage, crushed red pepper, basil, salt and pepper and sauté 1-2 minutes more.
3. Add the lentils, canned tomatoes, and water, and stir to combine. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 25 minutes.
4. Add spinach and cook 10 minutes more, until spinach is wilted and lentils are tender.
5. Stir in remaining 1T of balsamic vinegar, and serve.