Slow Cooker Vegetarian Greek Lentil Soup with Tomatoes, Spinach, and Feta

Ingredients

• 2 cups brown lentils
• 8 cups vegetable or chicken stock
• 1 medium onion, diced small
• 1 cup chopped celery, chopped into fairly small pieces
• 1 T Greek Seasoning
• 1 tsp. dried thyme
• 2 tsp. dried oregano
• 1 T minced garlic
• fresh-ground black pepper to taste
• 1 can petite diced tomatoes with juice
• 1 bunch spinach leaves, stems cut off, chopped and washed
• 2 T fresh-squeezed lemon juice
• crumbled Feta Cheese for serving

Directions

Chop onions and celery and measure 2 cups brown lentils. (Do this the night before and store in the fridge in a Ziploc bag if you want to get this into the slow cooker quickly in the morning.)Put the lentils, onions, celery, vegetable or chicken stock, Greek Seasoning (I use The Spice House Greektown Billygoat Seasoning),dried thyme, dried oregano, minced garlic, black pepper, and canned tomatoes with juice into the slow cooker.Cook on high for about 4 hours or on low for 8-9 hours, or until the lentils are as softened as you’d like them. (Cooking time will partly depend on how fresh your lentils are; lentils that have been on the pantry or store shelf for a while will take a little longer to cook.)When the lentils are softened as much as you’d like, chop the spinach and wash in salad spinner if needed.Add spinach and lemon juice to the soup, turn slow cooker to high if you were cooking on low, and cook about 30 minutes more. (A little longer won’t hurt, but the longer you cook the spinach the darker green it will get.Add another cup or two of stock at this point if the soup seems thicker than you’d like.)Serve soup hot, with a tablespoon or two of crumbled Feta sprinkled on each serving if desired.