Bob's Red Mill Veggie Soup in InstantPot

I love Bob's Red Mill products. Half my pantry, it seems, is filled with Bob's products. I was so happy when local stores started selling them a few years ago - from the local health food store to the discount chain Big Lots, I can find a great many of their offerings within a 15 minute drive, the rest I can get from Amazon.

One of the first items I fell in love with many years ago was their Veggie Soup Mix - a combination of all sorts of tiny beans and lentils, plus the tiniest alphabet pasta - whole wheat, too - that I've ever seen. It's such a tasty soup made using just the mix and water, made with as many added veggies and spices as I want when feeling adventurous. I've used frozen soup vegetables, fresh, even dehydrated ones.

The past few times I've made it I've done it this way:

6 cups of water
1 cup of Bob's Red Mill Veggie Soup Mix
1/4 cup dehydrated cut carrots from Harmony House
1/4 cup dehydrated celery, also from Harmony House
1 cup of diced frozen onions (instead of dehydrated, only  because I have so many bags of them in the freezer right now)
1/2 cup frozen chopped spinach (ditto)
1 tablespoon Mrs. Dash Table Blend

Toss all this into the Instant Pot and cook using the Manual button for 10 minutes. I let the pressure come down naturally.

I used more water than the directions called for to allow for absorption from the dehydrated veggies, plus the fact that my husband loves to dunk bread in his soup, and without the extra water there's nothing to dunk into, that's how thick this soup gets.

I used to make this on the stovetop when I remembered to start it early enough - it takes an hour once it boils - but usually I don't even think of lunch until I get hungry, and then I usually start cooking so it's ready when I am, about a half hour later or less. This soup is so speedy to make in the pressure cooker, especially if I start the water boiling on Saute mode or heat it up in the electric teapot while getting all the ingredients together. Once everything is in the pot and I seal the lid and set the time, it's usually ready in about 15-20 minutes. It makes about 2 quarts of soup when done. If I use fresh cut or frozen veggies instead of dried, a little bit more. Since we each eat 3-4 cups of it at a sitting, it makes lunch for 2 for one day or just me for 2.

I would have taken a picture of the soup in a bowl but my husband didn't want to wait and dived right in, so you're stuck with the soup in the IPot picture.

This winter our local Stop and Shop grocery store has had a lot of other brands of dried soups on the shelf using small beans and lentils and whole grains. I've had a great time trying them all, but this Bob's Red Mill mix is still my favorite. I'm glad I can eat products with gluten again and not have joint pains!