Cheezy Lentil TVP Soup

What you need:

1 lb. dry lentils (brown, red, green)
8 cups water
1 cup each of diced carrots, celery, onions, and parsley
4 medium potatoes cut into 1/4 inch cubes
4 bay leaves
2-4 minced garlic cloves
2 tablespoon vegetable oil
quarter cut squeezed fresh lemon juice
Cheezy sauce ingredients:
1 cup flour
1 cup nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon paprika
5 cups water
2 teaspoon yellow mustard
8 tablespoons or less of vegan margarine
Textured Vegetable Protein Crumble:
2 cups plain textured vegetable protein/TSP (texturized
vegetable protein/textured soy protein)
granules
2 and 1/4 cups cold water
2 tablespoons Bragg's liquid aminos or
soy sauce
3 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 tablespoon diced onions
2 tablespoon diced bell peppers
2 tablespoon diced tomatoes
2 packages taco seasoning or spices: 1
teaspoon garlic powder, cumin powder,
onion powder, paprika, curry powder,
black pepper, salt. 1/4 teaspoon sugar,
dried oregano, cayenne pepper, chili powder

What you do:

1. Rinse lentils and cook in pot with water for about 5 minutes.
2. Sauté all vegetables except for the parsley, garlic, and bay leaves in 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil over medium heat for about five minutes or until soft.
3. Add suatéd vegetables to pot with lentils/water, stir.
4. Stir in garlic and bay leaves, and the additional tablespoon of vegetable oil. Simmer until garlic looses its raw taste, about 2 minutes.
5. Add spices and squeezed lemon juice. 6. Simmer, stirring occasionally for at least 2 hours, until all cooked and blended well.
7. Remove bay leaves.
8. Let simmer on low heat.
9. *Optional: Remove from pot in to a food processor or blender and blend to puree.
10. Cook textured vegetable protein crumbles and add to soup; stir in well.
11. Cook cheez sauce and/or textured vegetable protein crumble.
12. Stir cheez sauce and/or textured vegetable protein crumble into the soup well on medium heat until all stired in and cheezy.
13. Remove from heat when done and let cool.
14. Serve, eat, enjoy!
Cheezy Sauce:
Mix first 4 ingredients (flour, nutritional yeast, garlic powder, garlic powder, paprika) together in sauce pan with water and mix thoroughly. Heat on med until thick and bubbly. Remove from heat and add mustard and margarine.
Textured Vegetable Protein Crumble:
Soak textured vegetable protein in water for 5 minutes or so. Mix together in a saucepan all ingredients except for textured vegetable protein, stir until cornstarch dissolves. Then stir in the drained textured vegetable protein. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly; stir and simmer until it is of the desired consistency, about 7-35 minutes.
You can just add the cheez sauce or textured vegetable protein instead of both and the soup still taste good!
More soup options:
Vegetable type options: zucchini, avocado, asparagus, mushrooms, cilantro, spinach, finely shredded green cabbage, bell peppers, tomatoes, squash, green beans, sweet potatoes, tabouli, barley, kale, olive, cauliflower, corn, peas.
Other ingredients: Red wine vinegar, kidney beans, split peas, black beans, bacos, tofu, seiten, balsamic vinegar, tomato paste/sauce, basil, fenugreek seeds, barbecue sauce, couscous, quinoa, bulgur, red pepper flakes, fresh mint or dried mint, coriander.