Minestrone Soup A La Madeline

This is first soup I have ever made and boy was it a good first try. My friend Erin gave me the recipe as well as some of her leftover ingredients and said it was definitely worth trying. It was so so so good! I chopped the vegetables in the food processor so it was actually really easy to make. Very hearty when the sauce boils down and you just end up with a really thick bowl of soup. I wish it wasn't all gone.

2 brown onions (I used one yellow)
1/2 bunch fresh basil
1/4 bunch fresh cilantro
1/2 bunch flat leaf parsley
6 cups vegetable stock
2 Tbsp soy sauce
2 cubes vegetable stock (I lost the ones I bought so I put in some chicken top ramen flavoring)
13 oz. canned tomatoes
1/2 cup brown lentils
1/2 cup pearl barley
4 bay leaves
2 cloves garlic
2 stalks celery, finely chopped (I didn't have)
2 carrots, finely chopped
1/2 parsnip, finely chopped
1 small turnip, finely chopped
1 can red kidney beans, washed thoroughly
ground pepper
Place the onions, basil, cilantro and parsley in a food processor and blend until finely chopped. In a large soup pot, place vegetable stock, soy sauce, one cup of hot water and stock cubes mixed with one cup of warm water. Stir and add onion and herb mix from the food processor. Place the tomatoes in the food processor and blend; add to soup pot. Add lentils, pearl barley and bay leaves. Cover and cook on low heat. Pass the garlic through a garlic press and add to the pot. Add the celery, carrots, parsnip and turnip to the pot. Cover and cook slowly for 80 minutes stirring occasionally. Season with black pepper. Add the kidney beans and cook for another 10 minutes. Remove the bay leaves.