Carrot & Yam Lentil Soup

I feel like I have been in a dinner rut lately.  It seems like we have been having the same meals on repeat every other week and I'm kind of over it.  But when I look up new vegan recipes on the internet a lot of what I find is a roasted artichoke with some weird sauce or roasted asparagus with fake cheese...yuk.  I'm not a fan of the vegan cheese (maybe that is why I just can't seem to give up normal cheese) nor am I a fan of one roasted vegetable for a meal.  For dinner I'd like something hearty and filling yet nourishing.  So I went to my fridge looked around and pulled out some carrots, yams, an onion, and fresh parsley and decided to whip up a soup.  I was trying to decide what to add to it to make it more hearty and I settled with red lentils.  That was a good choice.  I was very pleased with how this soup turned out and with how filling it was.  I served it with vegan mashed potatoes and salad. Enjoy!

Carrot & Yam Lentil Soup

2 tablespoons olive oil
4 large carrots, diced
1 small garnet yam
1/2 yellow onion, diced
1/2 cup parsley, loosely packed,
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
2 bay leaves 
salt and pepper to taste
2/3 cup red lentils
7 cups vegetable broth

Directions

Heat oil in a large stock pot over medium heat.  Chop all your vegetables and when the oil is hot add the onion and sauté until tender, about 4 minutes.  Add garlic and stir for a minute.  Add the carrots and yams.  Add vegetable broth, lentils, bay leaves, parsley and salt and pepper.  Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer a half hour or until vegetables are tender and lentils are cooked.  If the soup gets to thick you can add more vegetable stock or water to make it less like a stew and more like a soup.   Discard the 2 bay leaves before serving.  Enjoy!

*Serving Suggestion: You can add some mashed potatoes to the soup to give it a creamier texture.