I love lentil and bean soups with the exception of green split pea. But the yellow split peas make a fantastic soup. I had some dal in an indian restaurant (yellow split pea soup) and loved it, so I bought some yellow split peas and followed the recipe on the bag (not indian recipe - just onion, celery, carrot, a piece of ham or smoked ham hock, a bayleaf and some garlic all thrown in and simmered in a crockpot.
I do tend to make my own soups, because even the low sodium versions usually taste way too salty to me. Even diluting Campbells doesn't seem to help. Progresso and the Healthy Request brands aren't too bad, but I usually don't buy them because homemade soup is so much better and cheaper. I have a lot more time on my hands than most people though, as I'm now on disability, but still even when I was working 60 hours a week, I made soup a lot because I developed and collected a lot of super-fast recipes. Some of them are really fast, like take a can of canned beans (any kind). Drain, rinse, and put in a food processor and puree. Put in a pot on medium heat and wisk in canned chicken broth or tomato juice until desired consistency. Add dry onion, garlic or other seasonings to taste.
A lot of soups take only a few minutes of preparation time, but have to simmer a long time. So they don't really take up much of your time or attention, you just have to plan ahead. I love crockpots for soup, because you don't even have to keep an eye on them like a simmering pot on the stove.
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