French Lentil Rice Soup

French Lentil Rice Soup

Ingredients:

• 6 cups chicken or vegetable broth
• 1 cup lentils, picked over and rinsed
• 2 medium carrots, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 2 celery stalks, finely diced
• 3 tablespoons uncooked rice
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon Herbs de Provence
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground pepper
• 1 cup chopped ham (or chicken), if desired
  
• heavy cream or sour cream, if desired
  
• chopped parsley, if desired
  

Directions:

1. stir together broth, lentils, carrots, onion, celery, rice, garlic, Herbs de Provence, salt and pepper in crockpot. cover and cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 4-5 hours.

2. Remove one and a half cups soup and puree in a food processor until almost smooth. Stir pureed soup back into the crockpot. At this time add chopped ham in the soup and let simmer on " Warm" for a few minutes.

3. Serve soup in bowls, garnishing it with a dollop of sour cream or heavy cream and a little fresh parsley.

This so is so good! Everyone ate two bowls of it the night we had it, and then the boys ate it for dinner again last night. As leftovers I served the soup over some steamed rice. What was left I tossed in the Magic Bullet and pureed until smooth and then served it to the baby. This recipe is a keeper!