Lentil Soup
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
4 carrots, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 potatoes, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 teaspoons dried basil
pepper to taste
3-3/4 cup water
3-3/4 cup vegetable broth (or 35 broth cubes from freezing in ice cube trays)
16 oz can stewed tomatoes, chopped
1/2 cup stewed tomato juice (from the can of tomatoes)
2 bay leaves
2 cup dry red lentils
5 oz frozen spinach or 1/2 lb fresh spinach, chopped
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
Source of Recipe: vegetron
Cook the potatoes a little over half way before chopping. (I microwave them on high for about 5 minutes, but you can also bake them for about 30 minutes at 425 degrees.)
In a large soup pot, heat oil over medium heat. Add onions, carrots and celery. Saute until onion is tender. Stir in potatoes, garlic, oregano, basil, and pepper. Cook for 1-2 more minutes.
Stir in water, broth, tomatoes, tomato juice, and bay leaves. (The liquid added should total 8 cups.) Bring to a boil. Add lentils and return to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for at least 1 hour.
Cook frozen spinach separately, by the package directions, or skip this step if using fresh spinach. Add the spinach and vinegar to the soup in the last 5 minutes of simmering.
Serve with garlic bread, cornbread, rice, or crackers.
SO HOW'D IT GO?
Oh gosh... it's delicious!
But, I found it was a bit bland originally, so I modified it a bit by adding 1/4 cup tamari, and changing the broth-water ratio to 5.5 cups broth and 2 cups water (I'm using bouillon powder; I don't know how that ratio would work for actual vege broth) and I used a whole 28oz can of stewed tomatoes because I didn't want to save like... two stewed tomatoes and a 1/4 cup of juice in the fridge.
It turned out delicious. I'll make this again for sure!
Awesome recipe!!! I added some curry, cumin, turmeric, and Braggs. I also substituted kale for the spinach, and spiced it up with red pepper. It was amazing! Thank you!
Is that 3 and 3/4 cups of water and veggie broth?
It is 3 and 3/4 cups each of water and broth to be 8 cups of liquid total. The leftover juice from the can of stewed tomatoes was 1/2 cup.
Is that 3 and 3/4 cups of water and veggie broth?
This soup was awesome! I didn't have potatoes so I added extra celery and lentils. I used 4 fresh tomatoes instead of the canned and paste. I also used curry paste and seasoned salt to give it a kick. I bought a whole bunch of lentils in bulk, so I'll be making this soup for a while...the veges make it a meal! My husband said it's the best meal I've ever made. It took at least 3 hours for my lentils to cook though, which made for a late dinner, but it was worth the wait!
My 3-year-old looked at it and said that he didn't like it, but we caught him shoveling it in a few minutes later. We added some Creole seasonings and found it to be very good.