My Vegetarian Lentil Soup

My Vegetarian Lentil Soup

by Tania Calderón

click on photos to enlarge

Happy New Year!!!! This 2013 will be a very exciting year in the world of food and growing within. Some of you may know I started sprouting a few months back and We've also started a small hydroponic system which will hopefully grow our tomatoes and peppers indoors.

I'm very excited about the new year and all of the new magic it will bring into our lives, and belly. So, today I'm starting off this blog with a simple Lentil Soup recipe.
There are several types of Lentil Soups, they are a great source of fiber, protein, and iron. During the winter I really enjoy hot soup like many others and especially love the smell of my home when food is simmering on the oven for a few hours slow cooking that nights dinner.
This is one I threw together late this morning to cook in my new crock pot.
Since I've only used the crock pot once it's an experiment because I'm using dry beans that I didn't soak the night before hand.

(uncooked) 

INGREDIENTS

• 2 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 medium celery stalk, sliced
• 1 medium carrot, peeled and small dice
• 1/2 medium yellow onion, small dice
• 3 large garlic cloves, minced
• Kosher salt (to taste) 
• Freshly ground black pepper (to taste) 
• 1 quart vegetable broth
• 14-ounce caned San Marzano whole peeled tomatoes in SM puree 
• 1 1/4 cups dry beans (I used 3/4 cup brown lentils, 1/4 cup chick peas, split peas) 
• 1 bay leaf
•  chopped fresh thyme leaves and stems (to taste) 
• 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar 
• 5 medium large brussels sprouts, trimmed and cut in two. 

So let's get started...  

I have an assortment of dry beans that I used although I call this lentil soup because I used more of them than the others. 

I boiled the dry beans about 5 minutes on the stove before adding them to the crock pot.

Then I added my other ingredients in the order listed above. 

(uncooked) 

I'll let that simmer for a few hours and by the time I'm ready for dinner my delicious vegetarian lentil soup will be done. No fuss, and what I like about this recipe is all of the ingredients are simple and in their natural form (unprocessed). 

Here we are 5 - 6 hrs later. 

Bon Appetít! 

(btw Basic Lentil Soup Recipe here By Aida Mollenkamp)