Lentil Chickpea Soup

Yep, another soup. I just really like soups. I could eat a bowl of soup every day pretty much. Another thing I absolutely love is legumes. I truly could (and often do) eat legumes of one kind or another every day. Two of my favorites are chickpeas and lentils, but prior to this I'd never before prepared anything with those two together.

I made this soup one day when I was in the mood to spend the entire afternoon in the kitchen (the same day that I made the quiche and also baked cookies.) It was a great way to use up some veggies I had on hand. It was quite good, although I do think its going to be hard to find a lentil soup I like more than the Sweet Potato Lentil Stew- but we still really enjoyed it. And it was even better as leftovers. Sage added some chopped grilled chicken breast to his, but B and I just had ours topped with some parmesan cheese. (In the picture you'll see some parsley as well, but I found I preferred it more without. My attempt to take new pictures without parsley didn't work out for me though so pretend its not there.)

1 tbsp olive oil
2 celery ribs, diced
2 large carrots, peeled and diced
1 zucchini, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
sea salt and fresh ground pepper
1 (14.5 oz.) can diced tomatoes, with juice
1 (15 oz.) can of low sodium chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2 cups vegetable stock
1/2 cup tomato sauce (or a spoonful of tomato paste- I just had tomato sauce already open)
1 bay leaf
several sprigs of fresh thyme
1 1/2 cups water
3/4 cup regular green (or brown) lentils, rinsed and picked over
shredded parmesan, for serving

In a stock pot, heat oil over medium heat. Add celery, carrots, zucchini, onion and garlic to pot and season with salt and pepper. Saute until onion begans to become translucent, about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes, chickpeas, stock, tomato sauce, bay leaf and thyme sprigs. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 40 minutes or until carrots are tender.

Meanwhile, combine lentils and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Boil for 2 minutes, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 25-30 minutes or until lentils are tender but not mushy. Stir into stock pot.

Remove bay leaf and thyme sprigs. Season with extra salt and pepper if needed. Top with parmesan before serving.