For many years, I taught Fluid Running, water fitness, and arthritis classes at local pools. After a long morning in the water, I would be chilled to the bone and starving.

I developed a love of soup, particularly this recipe that I call “Dump Soup”.

If you’ve ever taken one of my classes, you know that I eventually get around to talking about food. When I exercise, I wear a fitness tracker and love looking over my data afterwards. But I don’t really need it to know if I’ve had an effective workout. If I start thinking about food, particularly my next meal, I know that I’m in my cardio zone long enough.

My brother John was in town one summer and joined my Fluid Running class. Honestly, I don’t think he thought it was going to be that hard. But about 15 minutes into our run, he looked up at me teaching on the pool deck and said, “Let’s grab some nachos after class.” We are cut from the same cloth.

One Christmas, the seniors in my Arthritis class gave me a fabulous coffee mug. Obviously, I talked about soup quite a bit. I love to make soup from scratch, like on the food shows. But I don’t have someone to chop up everything and put it in those little bowls to toss into the pot. I also don’t have someone to wash all those dishes.

So I developed this recipe over time and it’s now my go-to lunch food. I make a pot of this soup most Mondays and eat through it all week. It’s super simple and I almost always have the ingredients on hand.

This isn’t as much a recipe as it is an assembly. Dump the canned lentil soup and vegetable broth into a pot.

Add a bag of frozen vegetables.

Drain and rinse a can of chick peas/garbanzo beans. Add these to the pot.

Add a can of fire roasted diced tomatoes.

Toss in 1 tablespoon of chia seeds.

Open a can of chipotle peppers and add one to the soup. This adds a nice smoky flavor without adding spice/heat. Save the extra peppers for another time. Each can will have 8-10 peppers. I arrange the rest on a plate and flash freeze. Then I toss them in a bag and grab one from the freezer when needed.

Heat to boiling and then turn down to a simmer. I let this cook for 15-20 minutes. Remove the chipotle pepper before eating. It will taste better the next day after the flavors meld. I don’t add any additional seasonings as I find the soup flavorful enough.

For extra flavor, grate some asiago cheese over top.

That’s it. I apologize for any strange camera angles. I was balancing Becky on my hip and ordering Dawn dish soap from Amazon🤷‍♀️

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Dump Soup

• 1 can lentil soup
• 1 quart vegetable broth
• 1 bag frozen vegetables
• 1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can fire roasted diced tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon chia seeds
• 1 chipotle pepper 
• Optional: grated asiago cheese

Instructions:

1. Dump lentil soup and vegetable broth into a pot
2. Add frozen vegetables.
3. Drain and rinse garbanzo beans. Add to pot.
4. Add fire roasted tomatoes and chia seeds.
5. Add 1 chipotle pepper. Flash freeze remaining peppers.
6. Bring to a boil. Turn heat down and simmer for 15-20 minutes.
7. Remove chipotle pepper before serving.
8. Serve with grated asiago cheese.