Red Lentil Soup

 
After holidays full of caramel corn, chocolate cake and Irish cream, it's good to fill my belly with something healthy. This afternoon we made our favorite Red Lentil Soup. I always modify the recipe based on what's on hand and this soup is pretty hard to mess up.

This time I added a cup of organic long-grain brown rice from Swamp Rabbit Grocery. I didn't add any additional liquid, the result is a heartier soup. Also I added some corn, a half tomato and a parsnip that were leftover from other things. I didn't have any fresh parsley, but no worries. I use the Better Than Bouillon organic vegetable base instead of broth. It has good bit of sodium, so use sparingly and don't add the salt from the recipe. The magic ingredient is the cumin. It gives the soup a warm buttery flavor. And cumin is great for you.

Red lentil soup ranks pretty high up there far as healthiness. Adding the long-grain rice to the lentil creates a complete protein. It's full of fresh vegetables. It's vegan but so tasty. The cost for a pot of this soup (approximately 6-8 bowls) is about $8. This is the perfect soup to start a new year.