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Do your kids love soup? Leah is a crazy picky eater, but the one thing she will always eat is soup, and thank goodness, because it’s one of the healthiest things she could choose.
My mom came up with the best lentil soup recipe and it’s one of my all time favourites. It’s loaded with veggies and perfect for a cold winter day… or in my case, perfect when I feel like our family hasn’t been eating healthy and we need a little nutrient boost!
One of my most favourite things about making soup is that it is next to impossible to mess it up, so if you want to season it differently for your tastes or change the amounts, it will probably still taste great!
Ingredients:
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
900mL box of reduced sodium chicken broth
900mL water (I just refill the chicken broth box again and pour it into the soup)
1 can diced tomatoes (bonus if you buy diced tomatoes with herbs and spices… in this case you can leave out the italian herbs listed below)
7 stalks of celery, chopped
5 carrots, chopped
1/2 cup red lentils
1/4 cup barley
1 tsp Italian seasoning
2 tsp thyme
2 bay leaves
The short instructions are: saute the onions and garlic, add all the ingredients and simmer for 1.5 hours.
Here is the longer description with pictures:
Saute the onion and garlic in a little bit of oil. Add the chicken broth and the water. Add the can of tomatoes.
I'm Debbie Chapman, founder of One Little Project and author of the book Low-Mess Crafts for Kids. I love creating fun and easy crafts and cooking up delicious recipes for my husband and 3 kids.
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Filed Under: Recipes, SoupTagged With: Early Post, soup
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Lindasays
I made this lentil soup last week. I made some changes to it. I used brown rice instead of the barley. Did not use the seasonings it called for. Instead I kicked it up a notch. I used red curry powder, ground turmeric, ground cumin and smoked paprika, just add to your liking and then I added fresh baby spinach. And it was so delicious!! My husband really liked it as well. I used the frozen Birds Eye brown rice put it in the microwave for 4 minutes added to the soup. I did have to add more chicken broth. I love the red lentils. Served the soup with garlic bread and it was the bomb!! Will be making it again. Next time I will add some Italian sausage.
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Delina Durtschisays
Thank-you for a killer soup recipe!! This is the second time I’ve made it and I love it. My husband shudders at the thought of lentils, but he couldn’t even tell that they were there. I love the red color they give to the soup as well as the extra nutrition. Normally I eat very little meat, but I add just a smidge of Italian sausage and it heightened the flavor of the whole pot. This is now one of my favorite soup recipes. Thanks again.
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Nikkisays
This has become the basis for a go-to meal of mine! I saute some crumbled spicy italian sausage after the onion, and I double up on both the barley and lentils for a more substantial stew-like soup. And if I have time, I’ll make the chicken stock from scratch. Delicious!
Why does my lentil soup taste bland? Lentils have a relatively mild taste and take well to seasonings. To avoid a bland lentil soup, use a flavorful broth—whether that's homemade or store-bought chicken or vegetable broth. The other key is building flavor.
The other good news: Lentils don't need to soak as beans do (though you do need to sort and rinse them before cooking). Different types of lentils cook in different amounts of time. Red lentils are the fastest cooking and they dissolve as they cook and make for a smooth soup.
Studies suggest that regularly eating lentils promotes good health and reduces your risk of chronic diseases such as diabetes, obesity, heart disease and cancer, including breast cancer. The plant-based compounds (polyphenols) in lentils may have especially powerful effects.
Sometimes soup just needs to simmer longer to reach the perfect consistency. Check to see if the vegetables are tender, and then taste the broth. If the soup tastes a bit watery, give it more time.
If you don't have stock on hand, add onion, carrots, celery, garlic cloves and/or herbs to the pot. All of these are mild flavors that can jump in any direction depending on how you're going to use the cooked lentils.
Thanks to the high fiber content, lentils will promote a functioning, happy digestive system that leaves you feeling satisfied—and ahem, regular, according to Poon. "A diet that is rich in fiber can help you maintain bowel health, lower cholesterol, control blood sugar, lose weight, and prevent disease," she says.
Best of all, black lentils are the most nutritious variety of lentils, boasting the highest amount of protein, plus high levels of calcium, potassium, and iron.
No matter which type of lentil was chosen, this pulse proved to have a beneficial effect on blood sugar, keeping it low, especially when eaten regularly, and as a replacement for starchy foods, according to Ramdath. The minimum amount to keep blood sugars from rising is ¼ cup dried pulses.
However, it's worth bearing in mind – if you are planning on eating lentils every day – that the fibre they contain can be difficult to break down and can potentially cause gas and cramping if you eat too much of it.
That means the foam will typically appear when making meat-based broths and, to a lesser degree, soups made from high-protein vegetables such as chickpeas and lentils. When those coagulated proteins cluster together, they can create air pockets, which is what causes the “sudsy bubbles,” says Trout.
Since lentils are starchy, earthy in flavor, and can be on the bland side, there are many ways to make them flavorful, including by adding them into soup. When other ingredients are introduced that complement lentils like onions, garlic, spices, and lemon, the taste is out of this world.
Soup can become acidic due to a variety of factors such as using acidic ingredients like tomatoes, vinegar, or lemon juice, overcooking certain vegetables, or adding too much of ingredients like wine or citrus. It can also be caused by fermentation or spoilage of soup over time.
Add aromatics to the water or, even better, use chicken or vegetable stock instead of water. Follow this tip: Add a few cloves of garlic, a bay leaf, a spring of rosemary, half of an onion, or a combination of these aromatics to the cooking water or stock to help flavor the lentils.
If your broth tastes thin and bland, you may want to cook and let it evaporate for longer. That helps concentrate its flavors and gives you a better-tasting soup broth. Be sure to remove the lid to let the steam escape.
If a soup is tasting bland in the bowl, consider adding acid rather than salt. A squeeze of lemon or lime, or a dash of yogurt or sour cream can add brightness to the bowl. Start with the basics. Ensure you've added enough salt and black pepper.
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