Vegetable split pea soup

I don't know what to call this soup, because there's lentils in here, lots of vegetables, and barley...you never hear of barley in a pea soup. Plus its quite soupy, not as thick as a pea soup. So I guess its more of a winter vegetable soup with lots of split peas. The chunks of bacon (purely optional) give that smoky flavour that is best buds with the split peas. Or if you want to make it pure veg a spoonful of chipotle puree or adobo sauce is so smokily good as well. I feel like this soup would be good in a slow cooker or a pressure cooker, but as I do not own either of these things, I will never be able to test this hypotheses.

Ingredients:

1 cup dried split yellow peas
1 cup dried split green peas
1/2 cup red lentils
2 carrots, cubed
2 parsnips, peeled and cubed
3 stalks of celery, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
3-4 cloves of garlic, crushed
8 cups vegetable stock
1 can of diced tomatoes, drained
2 bay leaves
a dozen peppercorns
few sprigs of thyme
1/2 cup barley
one spoonful chipotle sauce
Salt to taste

Heat olive oil in a pan on medium heat and fry the onions until transluscent, then add the rest of the vegetables. Add a bit of salt. Cook a few minutes, then add the garlic. Then add the peas, lentils, tomatoes, stock, and herbs. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for about 2 hours, until the peas are almost mushy. Add the barley and simmer about 30 minutes more until barley is tender. Serve with bread and your favorite cheese.

If you like bacon, cut it into pieces and fry it to render out the fat. Drain it then add it to the soup as its cooking. I bought a chunk of artisanal bacon at one of those fancy meat places. If you don't add the bacon, its a very good vegan soup.