chicken, lentil & split pea soup

This is a great recipe that has lots of texture and is very filling. I used a recipe from AllRecipes.com (Slow Cooker Lentil & Ham Soup) as my inspiration and modified it with ingredients I already had in my fridge.

makes: about 13 cups

ingredients
1 cup dried lentils
1/2 cup dried split peas
1 cup celery, chopped
1 cup carrots, chopped
1 cup onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 chicken breast, whole
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 bay leaves
64 ounces chicken broth
1 cup water
1 8 oz can tomato sauce
salt & black pepper, to taste
fresh parsley (garnish)

directions
step 1 In a slow cooker, combine all ingredients. Stir well. Note: when adding the whole chicken breast, make sure it is covered completely with the broth. Cover and cook until the lentils, split peas and vegetables are tender and the chicken is cooked through — on low for 7 to 8 hours or on high for 4 to 5 hours.

step 2 After all is cooked, pull out the chicken breast and using 2 forks, shred the meat. Stir the shredded chicken into the soup. Stir well.

step 3 Discard the bay leaves before serving and sprinkle with fresh parsley. (My husband also loves to add Frank’s Hot Sauce to spice it up.)

helpful note I pre-chopped all of the vegetables the night before so that I could quickly throw it into the slow cooker in the morning. I used a Ziploc Twist ‘n Loc container because it has handy measurements on the side — no need to dirty a measuring cup! (And, it kept the chopped onion smell from over-powering my fridge.)