Veganize Your Dry-Soup Mix

We have all seen them on Pinterest-the soup and cookie mixes in mason jars. With the holiday just past, I am sure I am not the only vegan who got one of these pre-made-with-love mixes that wasn’t totally vegan let alone vegetarian. So what is a vegan to do?

Well I decided to take my soup gift and have it be my first go at a real meal in my new apartment. I just moved in a week ago and have been living off of frozen veggies and quick pasta’s. Healthy but not too much. I was so ready for a healthy meal with the veg having more flavor then steamed with garlic salt. Gets a little tiring.

So I had received a Lentil Soup Mix sold by World Market. I love World Market and can walk around the store for an hour and still not have looked at everything. They have great new chairs and table sofa’s that I love sitting in. The scarfs are so soft and their kitchen section is extensive. Everything always looks so expensive and of good quality it always hurts that I can’t take more home with me when I leave!

One night I went to make the soup and looked on the back thinking all I needed to do was add water or vegetable stock…Nope, there was a lot more to it. It needed fresh veggies to go in it. I also thought to look at look at the ingredients in the seasoning mix. Chicken stock, chicken fat…Oh, no! I looked at the spiced that were in the seasoning to see how I could make it vegan, cause who wants chicken fat? Yuck. So, I had to make a shopping trip to get the supplies before I could make it so the next day to cook it was.

It was fun to get to use my tiny kitchen to cook-and I do mean tiny. Barely any cutting board space, but I made it work. I did learn that you should always read the directions fully prior to starting the act of cooking…especially when you want to eat by 6:30ish. The last direction was to let simmer for 1 1/2 hours. Hmph. Boiled veg and pasta dinner it was. I hadn’t started cooking until about 5:30 so after I got everything going and saw the last direction it was a little after 6pm. Hmph. After I let it simmer the almost 2 hours, I portioned it out into plastic containers to take for the three-day work week and for me to have for lunch and probably dinner the next day. I tasted it, and if I do say so myself, did very well veganizing my lentil soup mix.

Vegan Lentil Soup, 6 Servings

1 Tbsp Olive Oil

1 Large Onion, chopped

1 Tbsp Garlic Paste

1 Tsp Pepper

7 Oz Mushrooms, chopped

1 Lbs Carrots, chopped

1/2 Tsp Salt

1 Tsp Italian Seasoning

1 Tbsp Chili Powder

1/2 Tsp Turmeric

Lentil Soup Mix

2 Cups Vegetable Stock

3 Cups Water

1 28oz Can Diced Tomatoes

1 Bag House Foods Tofu Shirataki Noodles

1. Set largest soup pot on largest burner and turn on high. Drop one tablespoon olive oil into pot. Chop one large onion into smallish pieces and drop into hot oil. Add garlic paste and pepper.

2. Chop mushrooms and drop, chop carrots and drop into pot. Add salt, Italian seasoning, chili powder and turmeric. Stir until combined and let mushrooms and carrots cook for approximately 2 minutes.

3. Add lentil soup mix and stir. Add vegetable stock, water and diced tomatoes. Stir until combined.

4. Bring to a boil and let boil about 5 minutes. Turn down to simmer and cover with a lid.

5. Let simmer for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, or until lentils and beans are cooked thoroughly.

6. About 15 minutes before finished, drain and really rinse the tofu noodles. Rip noodles into tiny pieces and drop into soup. Let simmer.

7. Enjoy!