Red Lentil, Chickpea, and Tomato Soup

I am so glad that I finally have a night to myself so I can make a relatively meat-free meal (easily made vegetarian by using veggie broth). Just so you know, this is a good one!  I pretty much love any red lentil soup, but I know a soup is really great when I find myself licking up the "oops" splatters on my bowls before taking pictures of the food instead of wiping them off with a towel.  I almost whipped up a batch of naan to go with this, but I didn't want to waste any time waiting for the dough to rise when I could be inhaling this. Rating 9/10.

Ingredients
Recipe adapted from Kalyn's Kitchen

• 1 yellow onion- diced
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper if you want it spicy (more to taste) OR 1 tsp sweet paprika
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 1 tsp sea salt
• pepper to taste
• 1 cup of red lentils
• 2 cans of chickpeas- drained and rinsed
• 5 cups low-sodium chicken broth or vegetable broth
• 1 28 oz can of fire-roasted tomatoes- preferably diced

Heat up the olive oil in a pan and saute the onion until softened- around 5 minutes.
Add the smoked paprika, cayenne pepper, minced garlic, thyme, sea salt, and pepper to the pan and continue to cook until the spices become fragrant- about 2 minutes.
Combine the onion and spice mixture with the red lentils, chickpeas, and chicken broth in a dutch oven.
Bring the soup to a boil, and then lower the heat to low.
Cover and simmer for up to 45 minutes (it doesn't take this long for the lentils to soften, but I managed to let it simmer for this long).
Stir in the fire-roasted tomatoes and continue to cook until the tomatoes are heated through.
Optional- puree half of the soup and then recombine with the remaining soup to create a creamier texture.
Season with additional salt or pepper.
Serve with an optional dollop of Greek yogurt.

Check out Kalyn's Kitchen for crockpot instructions!