Instructions

• Prep ingredients: wash and pick over 2 cups brown lentils if needed; dice the medium onion; chop 1 cup celery into fairly small pieces. (If you want, do this the night before and refrigerate.)
• Place into the slow cooker: the 2 cups brown lentils, 8 cups vegetable broth (use more if desired), the diced onion, chopped celery, 1 T Greek Seasoning, 1 tsp dried thyme, 2 tsp dried Greek or Turkish oregano, 1 T minced garlic, fresh-ground black pepper to taste, and the 14.5 oz can petite diced tomatoes with their juice.
• Cover and cook: set the slow cooker to High and cook about 4 hours, or set to Low and cook 8–9 hours, or until the lentils are softened to your liking. (Cooking time will vary with how old your lentils are.)
• Prepare the spinach and lemon: when the lentils are softened, chop and wash the spinach leaves if you haven’t already, and measure 2 T fresh-squeezed lemon juice.
• Finish cooking: add the chopped spinach and the 2 T lemon juice to the slow cooker. If you were cooking on Low, switch the cooker to High. Cook about 30 minutes more, until the spinach is wilted and tender (a little longer is fine; the spinach will darken the longer it cooks).
• Adjust consistency and seasoning: if the soup is thicker than you like, add additional vegetable broth a little at a time until you reach your desired consistency. Taste and adjust with more fresh-ground black pepper or a little extra lemon juice if desired.
• Serve hot, topped with crumbled Feta Cheese if you like.