I love to supercharge my favourite meals with extra nutrients! The red lentils in this recipe give traditional pumpkin soup a protein, fibre and iron boost!

Each cup of lentils contains 18 grams of protein, 16 grams of fibre and 30% of the recommended daily intake (RDI) for iron.

This recipe makes A LOT of soup! We eat this for dinner, pack some for lunch the next day, and the rest goes into ziplock bags and into the freezer for those evenings when we can't face the prospect of making a meal from scratch and are tempted to order home delivery meals laden with salt, refined carbs and saturated fat.

Ingredients

1 small-medium butternut pumpkin, peeled and diced (you can also add in some carrot or sweet potato if you like!)
1 onion, diced
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 small chilli, finely diced (optional - only use it if you like it, according to your taste)
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
2 cups dry red lentils
Salt and pepper to taste

Method

Place olive oil, onion, garlic and chilli in the bottom of a large saucepan and saute for 2-3 minutes on low-medium heat until onion is translucent.
Add diced pumpkin to the saucepan, cover with water and bring to the boil (to save time I usually oil the kettle and add already-boiled water to the saucepan).
Immediately reduce heat and simmer on a medium heat for 20-30 minutes, or until the pumpkin has softened (how long this will take depends on how large the pumpkin pieces are, and the temperature you simmer your pumpkin at)

While the pumpkin is cooking...
Rinse lentils, place in a separate saucepan, cover with water and bring to the boil (to save time I usually oil the kettle and add already-boiled water to the lentils)
Immediately reduce heat and simmer lentils until they are cooked through (10-15 minutes)

Now back to the pot with the pumpkin...
When it is cooked, blend all ingredients together with a stick blender (or ladle into a bender and blend).
Drain the cooked lentils and stir into your blended pumpkin soup.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serve and enjoy!

If you eat and enjoy dairy, for an extra protein boost, add a tablespoon or two of greek yoghurt.