Vegan Lentil Soup

This recipe is amazing – very simple, very inexpensive to make, but with a HUGE payoff. It costs about $10 to make 10 servings of this organic soup. My 2.5 year old son loves it, and it packs more nutritional punch than that organic canned soup line I used to buy.

Ingredients

1 TB organic olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 medium yellow onion, small dice

1 carrot, small dice

1 celery stalk with leaves, small dice

6 shiitake mushrooms, stems removed, washed and diced

1 teaspoon salt

½ pound brown lentils, washed and drained

4 cups No-Chicken organic vegetable stock

Extra water as needed

Directions

1. Warm the olive oil in a large soup pot over medium heat.
2. Stir in the garlic and warm until the garlic becomes fragrant.
3. Add the onion, carrot, celery, mushrooms and salt. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring often.
4. Add the lentils and stock*, plus enough water to cover the veggies and lentils by one inch.
5. Raise the heat to medium-high to bring to a boil. Lower heat to a simmer, cover and cook for 30 minutes.

*Optional: stir in 1 cup chopped spinach, or ½ cup diced yams or butternut squash

** For kiddo’s lunch, pre-heat a thermos with hot water in the morning and re-heat the soup for a few minutes. Pour out the water and fill with warm soup. Will provide a warming, satisfying school lunch.