Vegetarian Lentil Soup Assistance?

As I was walking down the aisle of the grocery store, perusing the canned lentil soup's sodium percentages, I began grumbling mentally. Why is it that the high sodium soup in the can tastes better than mine?

I went home and while making the soup, realized that my soup has a green scent. By this I mean too raw. Kind of like the fresh green scent you get from being around dried sacks of vegetarian green pet food. Newly mown grass. Don't know how to explain it better than that.

Any suggestions? Should something be pre-sauteed and then added to the soup pot to improve the flavor? In the past I sauteed onions and added them to the soup, but it didn't make much of a difference.

I wash the lentils, put them in water and boil until done. I add some Vegemite in the beginning and toward the end of cooking, add carrots and a bit of celery. Serve with chopped up jalapeno, carrot and anything else I can think of, but the canned stuff still tastes better to me.

Thanks for your help!

Holly