"Tex-Mex"

I've never moved in winter before.
  
Haven't really moved without a job lined up either.

And this is the first time that moving coincided with a shift in diet. (Reduced gluten because of allergies in the household. Heart healthy because of reminders about genetics.)

All to say, this is a good time to explore recipes. What better place than a freshly passed down Sunday School cookbook? A new lentil soup recipe seems like the thing for cold weather.

I'm not sure what makes this Tex-Mex.  My best guess is that it's the vinegar.

You could just as easily call it Cajun. You'd be wrong. But then, well, maybe not any more wrong than the working title?

Whatever the title, it's a kicky lentil soup. Compared to Ms. Cutler, I use less bacon (you can leave it out all together), vegetable stock, and forget the tomatoes. (I legit forgot the tomatoes the first time I made the soup. Remembered them the second time, and while it added another serving worth of soup it wasn't nearly as kicky.) My roux was made with glutinous rice flour per Serious Eats gluten-free suggestion, but if you don't have a gluten concern sticking with the white flour should be fine.

Kicky Lentil Soup

2 slices of bacon
1.25 cups brown lentils
6.5 cups vegetable stock
1 onion
1 carrot
1 bell pepper
3 Tablespoons butter
3 Tablespoons glutinous rice flour (aka sweet rice flour)
1 tsp salt
2 Tablespoons cider vinegar

Cook lentils in 5 cups of vegetable stock. (I set the pressure cooker for 9 minutes.)
Cook the bacon, if you're using it. (I put mine in the oven at 400º.)
Chop the onion and start it sautéing in a pan with some oil. Consider adding some mushroom, even though it's not in the ingredient list. Next, peel and cut up a carrot. Add it to the pan. Then, the bell pepper. And maybe whatever hot pepper that's in the vegetable drawer and needs to be consumed....
When the vegetables are softened and the lentils are cooked, add the vegetables to the lentils. Crumble in the bacon--it's done cooking by now.
Let the soup simmer for bit.
While that's happening make a roux in the skillet that is empty again. Melt your butter over medium-low heat. Add in the glutinous rice flour (or white flour). Cook, constantly stirring, for five minutes. Turn the roux into gravy by adding the remaining 1.5 cups of stock, teaspoon of salt, and 2 Tablespoons of cider vinegar.
Stir the gravy into the simmering soup. Let the flavors meld as it cooks a bit longer.
Serve with an array of hot sauces and decide which is your favorite pairing.