Healthy and Hearty Lentil Vegetable Soup

I'm a 33-year-old writer, mother, and wife. My family includes my motorcyle-obsessed husband, Myron, my 3-year-old firecracker daughter Melody Bee, a noisy and loveable Mini-Schnauzer named Max, a fiery and protective Scottish Terrier named Sammy, and a yellow, fiesty budgie (parakeet) named Lemonhead. We're expecting a baby boy, due August 4, 2008. I work full time in the Quality/Safety department at a hospital. When I'm not working or taking care of my family, I enjoy reading and writing fiction, yoga, gardening taking pictures, and (of course) cooking! Most of the meals that I cook are vegetarian. I stopped eating beef, pork, and chicken at the beginning of 2007, but I sometimes cook up some meaty dishes for my husband. I don't really call myself vegetarian because I do eat dairy, fish, and eggs, yet I daily incorporate lots of vegetarian and vegan foods in my diet (and that of my family's) because most of the dishes are so healthy. ********************************************* Recipe Ratings: Most of the time, I can tell when a recipe will turn out well just by the blend of ingredients and the way it is prepared. But occassionally, there's a recipe that sounds great that turns out awful for me. At all times, I will give a complete review of what I changed or what I think the problem was if the recipe didn't turn out "perfect." Here's how I've been rating recipes. ***** FIVE Stars: I made the recipe without any major changes to ingredients or preparation, and it turned out perfect. If I made any changes, it was due to what I had on hand, not because the recipe was bad as is. I'd make this recipe again without a doubt. And I'd be proud to serve it to my family and friends. **** FOUR Stars: The recipe is very good, but I needed to tweak it just ever so slightly to my liking. (This does not include recipes I change because of the ingredients I have on hand. Instead, a four-star recipe was just a little "off," but easily fixed with minor changes.) I'd probably make this again, and I'd recommend this recipe to others. *** THREE Stars: The recipe is good, but needed many modifications to bring it to my liking. I either had to omit, substitute, or increase ingredients or something was just not right with the texture or taste. ** TWO Stars: This recipe was a real bummer both in taste and preparation. I was disappointed in the outcome and couldn't even modify the recipe enough without it becoming a whole different recipe. I wouldn't make this again, and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. * ONE Star: I'd be embarrassed to serve this recipe to my worst enemy. Fortunately, I haven't come across many of these recipes on this site. Chances are, there had to be something wrong with the cooking instructions for this to turn out so bad! NO Stars: The recipe was a catastrophe. It was completely inedible and had to be thrown away before it even reached a serving plate. My dogs begged to be let outside for fresh air while this dish was cooking. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ <img src="http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b399/susied214/permanent%20collection/Adopted1smp.jpg" border="0" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket"> <img src="http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b399/susied214/permanent%20collection/adoptedspring08.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket">