Reviewed: Nov. 5, 2011

I haven't made this yet so I didn't want to rate it (but can't post without giving a rating so I'll go with 5 stars to avoid penalizing the recipe unfairly) I do want to use it for Christmas gifts. I am concerned that some folks say the peas and lentils aren't done enough. I wonder if the instructions ought to say to add the jar ingredients to the cooked beef with WATER initially but not with the tomato products? When cooking any legume, acidic ingredients like tomatoes will prevent them from getting tender so those ingredients should be added later. My lentils--cooked as lentils--usually cook in 25 minutes (package says 15-20) so I wonder if early addition of the tomatoes have prevented them getting done in 45 minutes in this recipe?

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8 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

recipe collector

Reviewed: Jul. 3, 2011

Great soup! Before I gave this out as Christmas gifts, I made some for us first. It's a favourite! Makes a hearty meal in the winter months when served with a nice multigrain bread. Good for large groups since it makes a very large pot. Freezes well too.

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5 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

lake

Reviewed: Jan. 29, 2011

We received this as a gift and it was really good... best of all, the Kids loved it!! We added mushrooms to it and instead of the pasta, we added cheese filled tortellini which made it a little bit more of a "hearty" meal

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10 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

leslib

Reviewed: Jan. 18, 2011

Every person I made this for at Christmas took the time to tell me how great is was later! I took the suggestions of others and used tomato sauce instead of paste. Delicious!

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12 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

dcshoffman

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Home Town: Union, Oregon, USA

Living In: Vancouver, Washington, USA

Reviewed: Jan. 15, 2011

This was really good. I made it for gifts and have had compliments from the receivers. I did have trouble finding regular barley so I used instant and it turned out fine. Will be making this one again.

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10 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

misden23

Reviewed: Jan. 13, 2011

Excellent soup! I made this for neighbors for a Christmas gift, they loved it. Instead of using jars I used small cello bags tied with a red and green ribbon. Made the soup for my family and was surprised that my kids ate it. (I didn't tell them it was good for them.) After reading all the reviews I decided to use one can of petite diced tomatoes and instead of tomato paste I used sauce also I added a handful more of small shell pasta. Will make again!!!!

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10 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

sweettooth

Reviewed: Jan. 11, 2011

I gave several jars of this soup mix to friends this Christmas. I packed it in Christmas-themed jars I bought at the dollar store and our local secondhand store. I was a little nervous because I didn't have time to taste-test the soup. Every single one of my friends has given me rave reviews! I highly recommend this recipe and wouldn't change a thing!

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11 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

BGRAY450

Cooking Level: Expert

Home Town: Winslow, Arizona, USA

Living In: Jackson, Wyoming, USA

Reviewed: Jan. 10, 2011

We found that cooking for 45 minutes plus the additional 15 left certain ingredients mushy. The split peas and lentils seemed to need more time to cook, but the pasta and barley were over cooked. We also added about 3 more bouillon cubes plus other spices.

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6 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

Lonnie

Reviewed: Jan. 4, 2011

I'm rating the soup jars, not the soup since I didn't make it. It is very pretty in the jars. I ended up getting a mixture of regular lentils and orange lentils- and green spit peas and yellow split peas. It looked great. I made 10 of these for friends and they just loved it, one of my recipients said he used Italian sausage and people were licking the bowl! I made this with "Easy Beer Bread" mix from this site and was told they go perfect together.

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10 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

Skoo

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Home Town: Stettler, Alberta, Canada

Living In: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Reviewed: Dec. 30, 2010

I included this jar and recipe in my gift bags this year. The feedback I have received, is that the peas and lentils do not cook completely. Has anyone else ever experienced this problem? It does look incredible, but I would hope the recipe included, will result in something edible. I will provide a rating, based on the ease of preparing the jars, and the visual aspect. I do however, want to understand the instructions for preparation. If anyone has prepared this soup successfully, please let me know what we are doing wrong. Thank you in advance.

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7 users found this review helpful