Soup Magic

Today I had no idea what to make for dinner. With my DH out of town, I haven't been doing a whole lotta home cookin, just heating up leftovers or eating a frozen pizza or a can of soup and a sandwich. But another frozen entree just did not sound appetizing, so I started scrounging around the pantry for all the ingredients needed to whip up culinary magic (mmm hmm!). I found this bag of lentil and veggie soup mix that only had about a cup left in it, but I thought for me and the baby, that would be plenty. Then I remembered that I had some celery and onion in the fridge and a half eaten chicken (I used the other half this weekend for chicken and dumplins for my hubby), so I thought, "Bingo! That would make a great soup!" And I thought that one cup of the lentils and dried veggies would just make a little, but it ended up making a whole pot of soup! So the rest will go in the freezer for another night!

See, that's one of the awesome things about making soup. You can throw in whatever veggies, whatever meat, pasta or beans and seasonings you have on hand, and it will almost always come out tasting pretty good! And it's so economical because the ingredients are cheap (or already on hand) and it goes a long way. It's like magic!

I've included my recipe below.

This is the veggie soup mix I used. It's called "Bob's Red Mill" and the ingredients are: Green spit peas, yellow split peas, barley, lentils and vegetable pasta (containing whole wheat flour, dehydrated spinach, tomato, celery, beets, onion and garlic). Sounds healthy huh?

Lentil and Veggie Soup a-la Angie

1 cup of Bob's Red Mill Veggie Soup Mix

4 cups of water (plus more to thin down the soup as the lentils soak up the water)

1 can of chicken broth

2 stalks celery, chopped

1/2 of a large onion, diced

1 clove of garlic, pressed

3 T of tomato paste

2 cups chopped, cooked chicken

1 t dried thyme

1 bay leaf

salt and pepper to taste

Stir together the soup mix, water, chicken broth, fresh vegetables, and seasonings together and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and simmer for approximately one hour, until all veggies and the lentils are soft, adding water along the way. After veggies have softened, stir in tomato paste until dissolved and add chicken. Simmer for another 10 or 15 minutes to heat the chicken through. Remove the bay leaf and serve with a sandwich or a side salad (I'm having grilled cheese).

Enjoy!