Great comfort food recipe!

We have had quite a week!  4 down with the flu and one with strep on top of that.  Whew!  When we have this type of week, I run to my old faithful comfort food recipes.  This lentil and veggie soup is one of our favorites.  I dump everything in the crock pot on high for around 4 hours, then drop in the dumpling dough and cook on high for 30-40 more minutes.  This is a great meatless recipe to put on right after lunch.  If you want some meat in it, ham, sausage, or chicken (cooked) would be a great addition right at the end.

Soup

• 1 pound package dry lentils (rinse)
• 3 quarts vegetable broth
• 4 carrots, peeled and sliced (I leave these out because my kids hate them)
• 3 or 4 celery ribs, chopped fine
• 3 large onions, peeled and chopped fine
• 3 T minced garlic (more or less to taste)
• 1 teaspoon salt (if needed - I never do)
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper (more or less to taste)

Dumplings (I double this because we love the dumplings)

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 egg or 3 tablespoons more milk (see note below)
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1-1/2 cups flour
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon each salt & sugar

Place all soup ingredients into crock pot and let cook for 4 hours on high.  Taste for seasoning and adjust if needed.

Dumplings:
Get out a big bowl. In it combine the oil, egg and milk until they are well blended. Add the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Mix it up to a stiff batter, like for drop biscuits. Set it aside until you need it. **I double the dumpling batter.**
When the soup is simmering slowly, it is time to drop in the dumplings. Take small rounded scoops of the dough with teaspoon and drop them into the simmering broth, on top of the vegetables. Keep dropping the dough blobs until you have scraped the bowl clean. Now put the lid, let it simmer for 30-40 more minutes.  When the time is up, serve the soup and dumplings as soon as possible. The soup will be thickened and the dumplings will be light and fluffy.