Reviewed: Feb. 13, 2012

You can reduce the sodium by swapping out most if not all of the tomato juice with low sodium chicken stock or vegetable broth (for a thicker consistency, just mash a 1/2 cup of the beans and stir into the soup ), use low sodium soy sauce, use frozen corn and peas that are thawed, and rinse the garbanzo beans before putting into the soup.

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Reviewer:

MICHELLE888

Reviewed: Oct. 10, 2011

The recipe is a good place to start but I had to make quite a few changes to make this a 5 star soup. The first being that I did not drain my diced tomatoes. The extra tomato juice was necessary for flavor and having enough liquid so it did not become mush when cooking. I also used 1 clove of fresh garlic minced well. Instead of 2 cups of water I used 3 cups water mixed with 3 tsps "Better than Boullion" vegetable base. I also used canned Campbell's tomato juice since I do not like V8 and would never use the remaining juice. I did not have a leek or carrots so I added extra celery, onion, and 1 extra potato. For seasoning I used Italian seasoning and I ended up needing a whole tablespoon because it was bland otherwise. Also instead of rice I used 1 cup of Stelline Barilla soup pasta. I probably could have only used 1/2 a cup because it really soaked up the liquid. When heating up leftovers I also find that I have to add 1/2 cup of water to keep it at a soup consistency instead of a stew. After all my additions it was great but unfortunately the original recipe needs to be reworked.

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Reviewer:

Carolyn D.

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Home Town: Sacramento, California, USA

Living In: Arcata, California, USA

Reviewed: Jan. 16, 2011

Since I'm really determined to eat healthier, I thought I would try this soup and I'm so glad I did. I didn't change it much, only eliminated the potato and changed the water to my homemade vegetable stock. This is a real winner and I'll be making it again.

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Reviewer:

Patricia

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Cooking Level: Intermediate

Home Town: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Living In: Elliot Lake, Ontario, Canada

Reviewed: Nov. 27, 2010

I love this soup! I made it on a cold night when I wasn't feeling well and it made everything better! I made only a few changes - instead of using V-8 I added 1 can of tomato sauce and about 3 cups of water. I also added a chicken bouillon cube because it tasted like it needed a little more salt. I omitted the leek, simply because I didn't have one. I also added about 1 1/2 cups frozen cut-leaf spinach. Very tasty!! I also did not add the rice, and didn't miss it at all. The soup was very thick, more like a stew. My boyfriend and I loved it!

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Reviewer:

Marie

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Reviewed: Nov. 22, 2010

Just made this soup but altered it a little bit. I used frozen instead of canned veggies. I also added Cauliflower. When everything was all cooked I added a few spoonfuls of plain yogurt to the broth. It came out wonderful. Very pleased with the results.

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Reviewer:

DaisyJake

Reviewed: Oct. 20, 2010

My family didn't like this soup at all. It was too bland when following the recipe exactly. We had to add too many ingredients to give it any flavor. We added more garlic, an envelope of dry onion soup mix, worchestershire sauce. I don't think I will be making this soup again.

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Reviewer:

GrandmaP

Reviewed: Aug. 21, 2010

Also great with a few teaspoons of cumin!

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Reviewer:

Stephanie

Reviewed: May 4, 2010

I didn't have veggie juice on hand so I just added more veggie stock and it still turned out good.

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Reviewer:

PIPERDOG

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Home Town: Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

Living In: Perth, Western Australia, Australia

Reviewed: Mar. 19, 2010

Really, really disappointing. The recipe yielded nothing more than bland mush. I'm going to try and salvage things with some broth, but I'm not optimistic.

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Reviewer:

dannnielle

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Reviewed: Jan. 17, 2010

A keeper! Great flavor! A few changes I made..Used elbow pasta instead of rice, used a can of french onion soup instead of diced onions, a can of stewed tomatoes. 2 cups of beef broth and 1 cup of water, and added 1 tsp of dried basil leaves. Will definitely make again!!

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