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The weather has changed to cool fall weather. I have been doing a lot of research on different kinds of soups. I am slowly changing my diet to reflect more of a vegetarian way of eating because I am noticing that I am not as tired and do not have heartburn or digestive problems when I eat vegetarian. I still do love meat and cheese I hope that as I change more to a much healthier diet I will not crave meat, eggs and cheese so much. I think this will be a work in progress. I did some research on Peasant Soup and found meat, vegetarian, and vegan ways appealing so I combined many resources and created my own. I think with the research I did, I discovered that everyone has their own version of vegetables, meats and spices. I would like to say I have adapted a really good vegan recipe. Next time I will add carrots to the soup. The smells in the apartment were heavenly and the soup came out really hearty, loaded with flavor, and very filling. Enjoy!
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Pam’s Peasant Soup
Created on November 2, 2011
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1 small bag 12 oz of Lentils rinsed and picked over well check for stones, twigs, etc.
2 tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil (can omit for those that do not use oil)
(2) 15 oz cans Muir Glenn diced tomatoes
1 tablespoon Caraway seed (I like the flavor – you can omit, decrease or increase)
1 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped
1 teaspoon dried basil (I imagine fresh would be more potent and flavorful)
2 bay leaves
8 cups of water
3 teaspoons of “Better than Bouillon” Vegetable based, or if you have homemade vegetable stock use that
1 medium onion, chopped
1-1/2 cup of chopped celery (about 4 stalks)
4 garlic cloves, chopped fine
(10) Oz package of organic baby spinach
5 small Yukon gold potatoes peeled and chopped
2 cups of finely sliced cabbage
Kosher Salt and Fresh Cracked Pepper to taste
In a stockpot, heat up the olive oil on medium high heat and add the chopped onions and celery. Cook for about 5 minutes till onions become soft and somewhat brown. Add the garlic and stir for about a minute or so. Do not let the garlic burn as it will make the recipe taste funny. Add the caraway seed, thyme, and basil to the onion/celery/garlic mixture.
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Cook for about another minute stirring often. Add the water, bouillon, bay leaves, tomatoes, lentils, and potatoes to the stockpot. Stir and let come to a boil. Then turn down to heat to simmer and cook for about an hour or until the potatoes are soft. Add the cabbage the last 10 minutes of cooking. Remove from heat and add the baby spinach. Cover and the steam will wilt the spinach after about a couple of minutes. Stir again and season with salt and pepper.
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Serve with whole grain or rye crusty bread.
Note: For the meat lovers, need to remove the Caraway Seed (optional) and add a type of sausage or cubed chicken breasts to the soup. Just remember if using linked sausage of any kind, remove the casing. I am sure the flavors will change when adding a protein to the soup. The results will probably be the same – delicious, filling and hearty.
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Filed under: Simply Healthy Recipes, Soup and Stew Recipes, Vegan Recipes, Vegeterian Recipes | Tagged: cabbage, celery, Lentals, Onion, Potatoes, Tomatoes, vegetable broth | 2 Comments »
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