Have a Souper Day!

Hi there! I hope the weather is not too bad where you are. Freezing rain in the forecast here. Never mind, only about  eight or nine weeks till spring. Coffee's hot and there's a tray loaded with all sorts of delectable virtual treats with absolutely no calories in any of them so help yourself. While we're on the subject of food...

Nong reminded me that we had a bunch of vegetables we needed to use up... some tomatoes going a bit soft, potatoes sprouting long tendrils, et al. What do you do with all these? Easy...make soup! That's exactly what I did... a big pot of vegetable soup and that is a picture of it above. I have to say it is delicious and though Nong is not always keen on my soups, she really likes this one. I though I would share the recipe with you. 

Uncle Bob's Hearty Veggie Soup

You can adjust this based on whatever veggies you have available.

I started with a big pot and about 1 litre of water (9 cups or so) 
Add 3 cloves of garlic, one diced onion and 2 mushroom-flavoured soup cubes. Let them cook, stirring occasionally, while you wash or peel your veggies.
Add 12 cup of lentils
1/2 cup of barley
4 or so carrots chopped into chunks, 
1/4 of a small cabbage, sliced
3 medium potatoes (less the tendrils, of course)
3 tomatoes. 
Dash each of fennel seed, salt, pepper and mushroom soy
Let it all start bubbling then cover it and simmer until a fork slides easily into the carrots and potatoes. 
I then added in about 1/2 cup of apple juice (I would usually put in a chopped apple)
1 tbs honey
1 cup chopped coriander (this is a Thai flavour and probably why Nong likes the soup)
Remove from heat and let it cool somewhat.
Then, I slowly blended the soup until it was almost smooth. You will of course need another large pot next to the blender.
Adjust to taste and Voila!

Enjoy it and let me know how you like it or what changes you make.

See ya, eh! Make today a souper one!

Bob