Susie's Awesome Sausage Lentil Soup

One of my all-time favorite restaurants is Carrabba's. And one of my favorite things to eat there is the Sausage Lentil soup. I have searched all over the internet and found about 6 recipes for it, none are identical so I took bits and pieces of all six of them and created my OWN recipe out of the lot of them. And it tastes JUST like that soup, so now I don't have to wait till we go out for dinner, I can make it whenever I am craving it. Of course, it makes a pan big enough to feed an army so we'll be eating it all week, but since it seems like everyone in the whole family likes it that shouldn't be too difficult. In case anyone is interested, I'll post it here. You may want to cut it in half to make a more reasonable sized pan full. (This recipe, as posted, makes a HUGE pot, about 8 quarts.)

Ingredients:

• 4 Tbs. Olive oil
• 1 cup finely chopped onion
• 1 ½ cup grated carrot (I use one package pre-grated, which is more)
• 4 stalks chopped celery
• 2 garlic clove, minced
• 2 lbs bulk Italian sausage, spicy hot
• 1 28 oz. can diced tomatoes
• 3 quarts chicken stock (stronger than broth)
• 2 lbs lentils, rinsed and picked over
• 2 tbs. vinegar
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 4 bay leaves
• 1 ½ tsp. salt
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp dried red pepper flakes
• 1 tsp fennel seeds

Heat olive oil in large soup pot. Add onion, carrot, celery, garlic, and sausage to the pot. Saute, stirring often, until sausage is cooked through. Break up sausage into small bits as it cooks. Add the remaining ingredients to the pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 1 hour. Remove bay leaves. Puree slightly with stick blender. If no stick blender is available, remove 1/3 of soup and puree in blender and return to pot.
Top with freshly grated parmesan cheese and serve with a thick slice of crusty bread.