Hearty Lentil Soup

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 bunch green onions, chopped
• 1 leek, sliced
• 1 carrot, diced
• 1 parsnip, scrubbed and diced
• 1 potato, peeled and diced
• 1 stalk celery, sliced
• 1 cup dry lentils, rinsed
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 3 cups vegetable stock
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 dash soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons vegetarian Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 1 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan and mix in the onions, carrot, parsnip, celery, potato, and leek. Stir over a medium heat.
2. Place lentils, tomatoes, stock, bay leaves, a splash of the soy and Worcestershire sauces and wine in the saucepan. Stir and bring the mixture to a boil. Cover and simmer for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the lentils are cooked.
3. Remove the bay leaves from the soup. Stir in the cilantro and serve.

(from Allrecipes.com)

mom_of_4: I made this today and it makes a lovely soup. As usual, I didn't have all the ingredients on hand, so instead of red wine I used some beef stock; left out the soy sauce, green onions, potato, and cilantro; and used canned lentils instead of dry. I'm not a big fan of the parsnip in the soup - it tasted like a woody carrot. Maybe that's what they taste like. Anyway, I would like to try it again using all the ingredients. It definitely needed the potato to cut the acidity of the tomatoes.