Chickpea, Vegetable, and Pesto Soup

Based on the bland reviews, I added a small can of tomatoes, 5 cloves of garlic, a healthy pinch of Italian herbs, 2 bay leaves, and made it in the crockpot. I also used homemade turkey stock. It was excellent. I made it on Valentine's Day and cut the carrots into heart shapes. My 8yo and 1yo loved it! I served it with Italian 5 grain bread spread with Boursin garlic & herb cheese. Excellent combination :)

I agree with Evilin, this soup is very bland. I doubled the pesto and added it directly to the soup pot, along with more dried basil. It needed a lot more salt, but didn't want that much so added about 4 good shakes of Cholula Sauce to the pot (Tabasco or Sriracha might also work.) Then when serving we gave a squeeze of lemon. It was still mild, but you could taste the veggies and broth.

I made this last week. Instead of adding the pesto when serving, I added the 1/4 cup of pesto before. It was still very bland.