TOMATO VEGETABLE BEAN SOUP

This soup is a hearty soup and can be a meal by itself.  You can vary the beans but you would need to use beans that have similar cooking times.  The lentils and split peas really thickened the soup along with the sprouted brown rice quinoa combination that I used.  I ended up adding a bit of water once the soup was finished cooking.  I used an electric pressure cooker to cook the soup but stove top and a slow cooker are other options that you could consider.  Friends dropped by after the soup was finished cooking so several of us enjoyed a mug of soup.  We all enjoyed this soup.

INGREDIENTS:

1 garlic clove, minced

1/2 cup dry split peas (yellow)

1/2 cup pearl barley

1/2 cup red lentils

2 tsp Italian seasoning

1/2 cup rice or rice quinoa mixture

1 medium onion, chopped

2 carrots, chopped

2 stalks celery, chopped

1 - 28 oz diced tomatoes OR 6 to 8 tomatoes skinned and quartered

1 - 5 1/2 oz can tomato paste

8 to 9 cups broth (vegetable, chicken or beef)

salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

Stove Top: Place all of the ingredients into a large soup pot. Bring to boil and then reduce the heat to simmer.  Cook for 1 1/2 hours to two hours or until tender.

Slow Cooker: Place all of the ingredients into the slow cooker crock pot.   Cook on low for six to eight hours.

Electric Pressure Cooker: Place all of the ingredients into the pressure cooker container.  Cook on medium pressure for 19 minutes.