Organic Lentil Soup Review: Health Valley Organic Lentil Soup

I have been using lentils in my cooking for some time now. Most recently, I have been getting Bob's Red Mill Organic Red Lentils to use in my spaghetti sauce and various other dishes that I want to add some protein to. I like that getting lentils is inexpensive, when compared to other vegetarian and vegan alternatives to meat, and that I can get it in bulk and save a lot of money. However, one thing that I am not too happy about when it comes to lentils is that I am unfamiliar with how to properly cook and season them to their fullest potential. I don't blame lentils for this and rather just blame myself. I don't really see them used in other foods that I could buy so finding out how they should taste when prepared well has not been too easy, up until recently. I came across a sale of organic canned soups and decided to get some of them. Among the cans that I got there were two that were lentil soups, one of which being Health Valley Organic Lentil Soup. I was so pleased to have found it that I was eager to try it out.

I have already had a number of soups from the Healthy Valley Company and actually had tried some of their Organic Multigrain Maple Honey Nut Square-Ems Cereal and Organic Multigrain Apple Cinnamon Square-Ems Cereal. I also had tried a can of their Organic Black Beans and I was beginning really enjoy the food items that the company had to offer. The Health Valley Organic Lentil Soup did not have any salt added to it and it was vegetarian. Although not having salt is not a requirement for me a food being vegetarian is. So I was happy when I read the ingredients of the soup in the store that it was vegetarian. The ingredients for the lentil soup were filtered water, organic lentils, organic celery, organic onions, organic tomato paste, organic carrots, organic spinach, corn starch, organic evaporated cane juice, expeller pressed canola oil, onion powder, garlic powder, white pepper, oregano, cumin, organic basil and organic sage. I was very pleased to see that so many of the ingredients, including a couple of the seasonings, were organic. It may sound like a chore but I try and read the ingredients of the foods that I plan to buy while still in the grocery store just to make sure that they are vegetarian. Now that I had established that the lentil soup was vegetarian I added it to my shopping cart and went on shopping.

When I returned home from the grocery store I was eager to try out the Health Valley Organic Lentil Soup. For lunch that day I happily made the can, as well as another can of lentil soup from a different company. I figured that I could compare the taste and ingredients to get a better idea of what seasonings I should be using and what taste that I liked about the soup. The first thing I noticed when comparing the two lentil soups was that this one was a lot lighter in color. I wasn't really sure why this was at first but then I realized that the other soup had organic spinach in it, so it made since that it was darker. I carefully heated up the Health Valley Organic Lentil Soup, pouring the can into a sauce pan, without adding any water, and placing it on low to medium heat and stirring it occasionally for less than ten minutes. Along with the lentil soups that I had prepared for lunch I also had some chips to go with them. After letting the lentil soup cool for a little bit I tried the Health Valley one first. I had some of the soup plain by itself, to really get the flavor and on some of the chips that I had as well as with some onions that I had already chopped up and needed to eat.

The Health Valley Organic Lentil Soup by itself was pretty good. There was definitely some good flavor in their and even though there wasn't any salt added I still thought that the flavor of it was nice. When I had it with the chips, which had a good amount of salt on them, I thought that it also tasted really good. As the bowl began to run out as I was eating and enjoying it I added some of the chopped up raw organic onions that I had on hand. This certainly added a nice addition to the flavor and I was glad that I thought to do it. I though that the onions probably also added some very nice nutrition to the Health Valley Organic Lentil Soup as well. The nutrition facts for the soup were based on a cup of lentil soup, or about half of the can. In this serving size there was one hundred and forty calories with only fifteen calories from fat. There was only thirty milligrams of sodium, twenty-seven grams of carbohydrates, eight grams of fiber, nine grams of protein and five grams of sugars. In the minerals and vitamins section of the organic lentil soup's nutrition facts it listed vitamin A with twenty-five percent, iron with twenty percent, vitamin C with ten percent and calcium with four percent. I thought that the nutrition facts looked really great, and I loved the amount of protein that it had to offer. I was very glad that I got the Health Valley Organic Lentil Soup and I would recommend for anyone to give it a try. It certainly inspired me to improve on preparing lentils with I cook and maybe even try and make a lentil soup. I was very glad that it turned out so good but also glad that in the event that it wasn't going to be something that I didn't care for it only cost about one dollar and sixty-six cents. Depending on how often I am in the mood for it I think that I will get it again.