Healthy Vegetable Soup

This is a soup I made Friday night for supper, it turned out really good. It is based on this recipe that I got off of Shannon A.'s - We're Eating What? blog.

Shannon's recipe

Jana's Version
Olive oil
1 onion, chopped
Saute until onions are golden, then add:
3 leeks, rinsed, chopped
6 cloves of garlic
Saute for another minute, then add to pot with:

1 bell pepper
3 roma tomatoes
4 large russet potatoes
2-3 carrots, I used about 1 1/2 cups
1 cup lentils
6 cups chicken broth (low sodium)
additional water to fill the pot
4 bay leaves
Lawry's season salt
ground pepper

Bring to a boil and then simmer for 30 min.
Remove bay leaves, then add:

1 c. frozen peas
3-4 handfuls of spinach
1 lb. crispy fried bacon, chopped

Simmer for another 5 minutes and serve.
Makes 7-8 quarts of soup.

All the ingredients, looks very healthy, doesn't it!

Peel onion

Slice one way

Then cross chop

rinse leeks

Lay leek flat and cut in half down the center

There will still be dirt between the leaves, even after rinsing

Bend the leaves backwards so the splay apart and you can easily rinse in between them

All the leeks cut and rinsed

cut the leaves off where they start to get dark green

cut off the root and check the first couple of layers for dirt, rinse if you find any

slice down the center

Cross chop

3 leeks makes about 5 cups of chopped leeks

Pretty bell pepper

Cut out the stem

Quarter and remove the white flesh and seeds

slice and then cross chop

3 roma tomatoes

Remove stem ends, cut in half, slice and then cross chop

Carrots, I used the baby cut carrots, all you have to do is chop

about 1 1/2 cups, you can use more if you want

4 big potatoes, peel

cut in half and then I sliced each half into 8 sticks,
cross chop and you get nice cubes.

If you cube potatoes ahead of time,
put in cold water to prevent oxidation, turning brown.

6 cups chicken broth, 4 bay leaves, Lawry's, ground pepper

Saute onions in olive oil

until golden brown,

6 peeled cloves of garlic

Add leeks and garlic to onions and saute for another minute

Add lentils, tomatoes and red bell pepper to pot

Add onions, leeks and garlic to the pot

Add potatoes and carrots to the pot

Cover, bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer for 30 minutes

Add peas, handfuls of spinach and bacon
(*bacon was unfortunately unable to make it to the photo shoot)

Mmmmm, the finished pot of soup

Served up

Enjoy with fresh bread and friends!