Lentil Soup-Protein For Vegetarians Looking To Build Muscle

If you’re a vegetarian who is looking to build muscle (be it toning up to look good in a bikini, or build large muscle) you will run into the problem of protein. Now, as you know, you can get adequate protein from a vegetarian diet. The problem comes when you are trying to put on muscle. Not maintenance, but rather build more muscle. If you’re hitting the gym, then you need to have meals that have lots of protein. One way to solve this problem is to take protein powder. But if you’re looking to have protein rich meals and not just protein shakes, then don’t fret, there are plenty of vegetarian meals that have lots of protein.

Some people will immediately think of eggs and cheese. These are both great sources of protein. Vegans have a bigger problem getting tons of protein because they avoid any animal product, including dairy. However, even if you do eat eggs and dairy, you should look for other sources for protein. One excellent way to get this protein is from lentils. A lentil soup is a healthy meal to add into your diet. There are lots of reasons to eat lentils, they are full of fiber, which is great for your heart health. It will even help to lower blood pressure.

The basic recipe for most lentil soups will call for a vegetable stock (broth) and some chopped vegetables (the french call this a mirepoix) namely cellary, carrots and onions. You can also add garlic, tomatos, and spices. The tricky part for vegetarian is finding a recipe that doesn’t have pork fat. Most chefs and cooks who are not vegetarian will add bacon to the lentil soup to add flavor. It’s not required. If you want to add some more fat to the meal, then pour some extra virgin olive oil on it when you’re done cooking. This technique is called “finishing” with oil. You could also add some organic sour cream.

One thing I do recommend you do is to use an immersion blender when you’re done cooking the soup. This will puree it completely. If you have a Vitamix, then you can certainly use that, but if you are often cooking soups (lentil, split pea, black bean) then you might want an immersion blender. You can use this right on the stove and blend up the soup while it’s in the pot. Here’s my recommendation on the best immersion blenders for making soup.

And you might want to get a good vegetarian cookbook. The soup recipes will not have bacon, or beef stock, so you won’t have to alter the recipes. Here are two cool books that contain lots of soup recipes. This will give you an idea about how to make soups without beef stock, beef bones, pork, and other animal parts.

You will find lots of soup recipes in these books. Some of them won’t be protein packed like lentil or pea, but they will all help you learn technique that will improve your cooking.