Hearty Lentil and Chickpea Soup

There is very little more depressing than a sunless Saturday in Chicago in late February.  In fact, if you asked me what I did today, I would have to think very hard (I finished a collection of Truman Capote essays, but mostly I sat around and thought about what I would do if I had the energy to go outside).

This kind of day.

Around late afternoon, someone on my hallway started cooking something that smelled extremely chicken-y, and not in a good way.  Clearly the answer was to cook my own good-smelling meal to overwhelm the stench.

My mother has been telling me for weeks now that I should eat more lentils.  So I thought I would try to make a chickpea and lentil soup.  After investigating some recipes, they all called for either exotic spices (which I don't have) or a slow-cooker (which I also don't have).  So here's my own riff on a fragrant, vegetarian, and protein-heavy soup for a gloomy day.

You'll need:

1 medium yellow onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 carrots, chopped
2 tbsp. olive oil
2 15 oz. cans of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup lentils
1 28 oz. can tomato puree
2 cups vegetable stock (I used Better than Bouillon, which has the added advantage of having all the salt you could possibly want in a soup)
1/2 cup black olives
Black pepper
Cinnamon

Sauté the chopped onion in a small pan in the olive oil for 3–4 minutes, until it starts to soften.  Then add the minced garlic and chopped carrots, sautéing for an additional 2–3 minutes.  Remove from heat.  Spice with black pepper and cinnamon to taste.

Add everything together in a big pot and put it over medium heat, partially covered.  Bring to a boil, and cook for 30–40 minutes, or until the lentils are cooked.

I put a nice dollop of 2% Greek yogurt on top, but otherwise this soup is vegan-friendly.  I'm estimating 5–6 big bowls of soup from this recipe.  Now I just need to figure out how to store all the rest of this...