Growing up, one of my favorite dinners was "Clean out the Fridge."  Nothing was planned and we foraged for leftovers and threw together whatever we wanted.  This soup was inspired by this concept.

John was feeling a cold come on, so I wanted to make soup.  I was thinking of chicken and rice soup, his favorite, but we didn't have chicken or rice.  We didn't really have much in the house.  You know what we DID have?  LENTILS!

I threw them in a pot full of chicken stock to cook while I figured out what else should go in there.  

Onions!  Yeah!  I sauteed onions in butter.

What else.... Hmmm.... Carrots!  Celery!  They went into the butter as well.

I checked on the lentils, and added in some macaroni and more broth.  Then they were all cooked up, the sauteed veggies went into the pot.  The result? 

This post was featured on Real Food Wednesday with Kelly the Kitchen Kop and the Pennywise Platter at the Nourishing Gourmet!