Reviewed: Dec. 14, 2011

This is beautiful and it does make a delicious soup, but the directions are all wrong! You have to cook this for at least two hours to get the peas and lentils soft, I had to use twice as much water and it was still way thicker than I like my soup (it was still really good though). There is no way you can put the pasta in at the beginning or you will have a mess!! BOO!! I even think you should make this in pint jars and nont include the pasta in the jar, but include it in the recipe as something to add. I did make up a bunch of these and I am going to tweak the directions and also tell the receivers that they can refer to this site for suggestions.

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Reviewer:

cinstho1

Reviewed: Dec. 9, 2011

I am in complete agreement with Marla Clancy's review above. This appearance in the jar was beautilful however this soup was terrible. I also did not have an opportunity to try the soup and gave it away as a gift. Luckily I had only given out one jar to a family member. She said that soup was waaaay too thick and starchy and that it had no flavor. In order to obtain the correct consistency, you would end up with a huge amount of very bland soup.

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Reviewer:

MsRose

Cooking Level: Expert

Home Town: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Reviewed: Jan. 31, 2011

I had to make changes. Added an extra cup water, as the soup was too thick. Had to cook an additional 2 hours to get beans and lentils tender. DON'T ADD PASTA until 20 minutes or so before serving. Needed alot more seasoning. Once tweaked, it is very good. Looks wonderful in jars! Perfect for gift giving!

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8 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

JMac72

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Living In: Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Reviewed: Dec. 30, 2009

This is really good soup. I made it for a few people for Christmas gifts and one friend said it was very delicious and she hadn't added any of the extras just made what was in the jar. I made some tonight and I did not use cabbage I added 4 carrots and 2 stalks of celery, I used chicken bouillon granules and brown rice and a can of diced tomatoes. The only thing I found was I had it on medium low for over an hour and when I tasted it the veggies and everything were still hard so I brouht the soup to a boil on medium high and let it boil for about 10-15 minutes. Everything was perfect but then the noodles were too soft and soggy. It also was a little on the salty side for me so next time I might just use 1 teaspoon of salt instead of 2 and add the noodles towards the end of cooking instead of at the beginning.

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13 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

momofthreekids

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Home Town: Coral Springs, Florida, USA

Living In: Hobe Sound, Florida, USA

Reviewed: Dec. 10, 2009

This is the best - make sure you add this line to the instruction "Add noodles and pasta in the last 10 minutes"

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16 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

'Couv John

Reviewed: Aug. 13, 2009

I made these for my fiance' family for Christmas and they loved them! I substituted the beef bouillon with veggie bouillon cubes for the vegan in the family, and she loved that too. When I make this for myself (instead of as a gift) I omit the bouillon cubes all together and replace the water with beef broth. Great Recipe!! I love it!!

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5 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

Erika

Reviewed: Dec. 9, 2008

Yikes why do people like this?? I wanted to test the recipe before making the gifts, and I'm so glad that I did. The soup was a stinky porridge of barley-lentil-rice goo. I had even added carrots, celery and onions, but it didn't make a difference. Be warned!

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14 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

Zuppa_Anna

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Living In: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

Reviewed: Jun. 18, 2008

Really flavorful, and healthy too. A great vegan dish, as I am vegan myself. It is full of protein which makes it quite delectable if I do say so myself. I would just add that the water should probably be cut in half as it makes quite a lot, and the entire quantity would not fit in the crockpot. I made it without the bouillon or the pasta and it still tasted fantastic. Yet it is hard to distinguish the flavors of all the ingredients as they all sort of blend together, and that was my only misfortune with the recipe.

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10 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

Kristen

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Reviewed: Aug. 23, 2007

I'm rating this a 5 on presentation only as I gave them away as gifts. Nobody seemed to make the soup and they left them up as 'pretties'!

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12 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

Zap

Cooking Level: Expert

Home Town: Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada

Living In: Manchester, Kentucky, USA

Reviewed: Jan. 13, 2007

I received this soup as a gift for Christmas (after I recommended the site to my Aunt). My husband said it was the best soup he ever had, so am going to be making this myself, as well as giving it out as gifts too. The soup got thicker the longer it sat, so if you have leftovers like I did, I just added more chicken broth to thin it out. Delicious.

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13 users found this review helpful