Using a large soup pot, cook bacon until crisp and there are nice brownings on the bottom of the pan. Add onion and garlic and cook until translucent. Add about 6 cups water and the lentils and bring to a boil.

Will soup simmers, peel and dice the potatoes. Add potatoes to soup. Peel and dice the carrots and add to the soup. Add more water as needed.

When lentils are almost done, slice sausage in ?" slices. The best sausage to use is the german Landjaeger, if you can get it. If not, any smoked sausage will do. Add sausage to soup and warm through. For better flavor and if you are using the landjaegers, add a whole sausage after adding the carrots, then cut it when adding the other sliced sausage.

To make in a crockpot, cook bacon and onions and add all the ingredients, minus the sausage, to the crock pot. It should only take 4-5 hours on high to cook, maybe less.