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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!
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.
You can also add salt, aromatics like a halved onion, herbs, and spices to the pot before the lentils and the water, like beans, or wait until they're done cooking to flavor them.
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.
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.
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.
Cooking beans with a large strip of dried kombu, a Japanese dried kelp, may minimise their gas-producing properties too. This strong-smelling spice, often known as “hing”, offers relief from stomach gas. Add a small pinch to dal or khichadi - a rice and lentil dish.
Lentils are rich in fibre, folate and potassium making them a great choice for the heart and for managing blood pressure and cholesterol. They are also a source of energising iron and vitamin B1 which helps maintain a steady heartbeat.
Lentils pair well with a variety of flavors and ingredients, including herbs like rosemary and thyme, vegetables like carrots and onions, and proteins such as chicken, pork, and fish. They are also complemented by spices like cumin, coriander, and turmeric.
Another reason that lentils are known for causing gas and bloating is because they are high in what's called raffinose. Raffinose family oligosaccharides (RFO) are known to cause stomach discomfort and bloating because the human body lacks the enzyme required to break them down within the digestive tract.
If you eat fiber-rich lentils regularly, they can cause gas and bloating. If you are sensitive to fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides and polyol (FODMAP) foods, lentils can cause discomfort, as well as bloating and gas in the colon.
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.
Rinsing lentils will allow you to get rid of any accumulated dust, dirt, small rocks, twigs and possibly bugs that have come along for the ride: you don't want any of that in your food!
One and 1/3 cup of this hearty lentil soup provides 320 calories, 52 grams of carbohydrates, 10 grams of fiber, 18 grams of protein, 5 grams of fat, 0.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol and 650 milligrams of sodium.
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.
Protein-rich, fiber filled, one of the easiest to digest in the legume family, and loaded with vitamins and minerals that help build the body's strength and immunity - red lentils truly have it all and should be a regular part of everyone's diet. Easy to digest.
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