Vegetable and Red Lentil Soup

This one came out great and I'm sure it's insanely healthy for you. Once you chop up the veggies it's one of the really easy dump-in-the-crock-pot-and-leave-it recipes. Love those.

Ingredients

1 can (14 ½ oz.) vegetable broth (Check sodium levels on those things. Some of them are insane. I found one with like 1/3 the sodium of the others. Same goes with chicken broth.)
1 can (14 ½ oz.) diced tomatoes, undrained
2 medium zucchini or yellow summer squash (or 1 of each), diced (I used one of each)
1 red or yellow bell pepper, diced
½ cup thinly sliced carrots
½ cup red lentils, rinsed and sorted (may substitute with brown lentils)
½ tsp salt
½ tsp sugar
½ tsp black pepper
2 tbsp chopped fresh basil or thyme (I used basil. For no reason really.)
½ cup croutons or shredded cheese (optional)

Combine broth, tomatoes with juize, zucchini/squash, bell pepper, carrots, lentil, salt, sugar and black pepper in crock pot; mix well. Cover; cook on low 8 hours or on high 4 hours or until lentils and vegetables are tender. Ladle into shallow bowls; top with basil, croutons, and cheese.

Like I said, hearty and easy. I did make one mistake and cooked my basil with the soup. Although mine wasn't fresh, so it wouldn't be as potent I imagine. Anyway, it was good. And made me feel good for eating healthy. Yay for that.