Italian Style Herbed Lentil Veggie Soup Recipe- Vegan, Gluten Free, Grain Free, GAPS Legal

Don't you love when a dish you made as an experiment comes out so perfectly and deliciously?

I was pleasantly surprised at just how terrifically this Italian inspired herbed lentil veggie soup that I made yesterday came out. Packed with flavor and nutrition, not to mention being pretty cheap, vegan, and suitable for many special diets including grain free, GAPS, etc... it's just perfect. Not too hearty that it's too heavy for the summer, but filling nonetheless.

I just had to share this delicious recipe with you. I used lots of fresh herbs in it- feel free to play around with the herbs, adding more or less of each kind, or different herbs altogether, or dried instead of fresh, etc... And feel free to play around and replace canned stuff with fresh stuff, canned tomatoes with fresh chopped tomatoes and watered down tomato paste, and use whichever vegetables you have available in the house. It'll be good no matter what, I assure you.

This makes a lot of soup- feel free to halve it, or make it in advance and freeze it in portions for later use.

Italian Style Herbed Lentil Veggie Soup Recipe- Vegan, Gluten Free, Grain Free, GAPS Legal

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons olive oil (or other oil)

1 large onion

1 leek

6 cloves garlic

3 large carrots

1-2 celery stalks and leaves (1 if larger, 2 if smaller)

1 can mushrooms 

1 kohlrabi

2 zucchini

4 cups soaked green/brown lentils

4 1/2 cups crushed tomatoes from a can, with their juice (I used one large can and one small can)

6 cups water

1/2 cup cilantro, chopped

2 sprigs fresh rosemary

20 chopped fresh sage leaves

1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil

2 bay leaves

2 teaspoons garlic powder

3-4 teaspoons salt

Instructions:

1. Chop up onions, leek, and garlic, and saute in oil until golden.

2. Chop up the carrots and celery small, add them, and saute until starting to soften.

3. Add mushrooms and saute some more.

4. Chop kohlrabi and zucchini and add to the pot and saute for a bit.

5. Add the lentils and crushed tomatoes and water and bring to a boil.

6. Add the rest of the ingredients, but only part of the salt.

7. Simmer covered until everything is soft. 

8. Add more salt to taste.

Enjoy!

Are you a lentil fan? A soup fan? Does this look like a recipe you'd try?

What was your best experiment recipe you've ever made?