Finally I’m getting back to cooking, writing and teaching after some election recovery time. Speaking of recovery, lots of folks around me are getting sick at this time of year, and the heat was off in two locations I frequent, one of them my home. It inspires me to make a delicious, healing, HOT veggie soup to keep us warm and well.
The soup is flexible — go with veggies you have on hand. Speaking of that, I always keep a bag of frozen organic peas and a bag of frozen organic corn around. You never know when they’ll be just the right addition to a dish or bowl.
These measurements were for a big pot, a 3 gallon pot. I always make enough soup to share with everyone in my life.
VEGETABLE SOUP
Ingredients
- Extra virgin olive oil, 1 cup
- Garlic, 1 TB minced
- Onion, 1 lg. Spanish, petite diced
- Carrots, 10-12
- Celery, 5-6
- Green beans, 1 quart, cut into 1″ pieces
- Summer squash, 3 small-med., 1/4-1/2″ dice
- Frozen organic corn, 1 cup
- Frozen organic peas, 1 cup
- 5-6 Idaho potatoes, washed and cut into 1/4-1/2″ dice
- Greens, 1 Qt., cut up
- Salt, 3 TB
- Oregano, 1 TB crushed
- Hot paprika, 1-2 tsp. (1 tsp. will be plenty of warmth for many)
- Basil, fresh, 1/2 cup minced
- Rosemary, 1 tsp. crushed
- Cannellini beans, 1/2 lb. pre-cooked
- Diced tomatoes, two 32-oz. cans
- Water, 4 Qt.
Instructions
- Wash and cook the Cannellini beans, keeping extra cooking water when done. While the beans are cooking, prepare the rest of the soup.
- Wash and prepare all veggies except the potatoes. Set aside the cut greens to add at the end of cooking.
- Add the extra virgin olive oil to a 3 gallon pot.
- Saute the minced garlic and petite diced onion for 10 minutes. Add the green beans, celery, carrots, summer squash and zucchini. Cook and stir briefly. With all veggies added, they should come up to about 1/3 of the pot.
- Add salt and seasonings, stirring in with veggies.
- Add the two cans of diced tomatoes or about 15 fresh petite diced tomatoes.
- Add the 4 quarts of water, stir and bring to a low bowl, then reduce heat to simmer and cover pot to cook.
- Halfway through the cooking, wash and prepare the Idaho potatoes, leaving the peel on. Add the cut up potato with the Cannellini beans and their cooking water to the pot as well as the frozen peas and corn, and let all continue cooking.
- When the soup is done, flavors melded and all veggies cooked, add the greens and cook slightly.
Now enjoy, and stay warm and healthy this winter!
For more, visit my blog, vegetatingwithleslie.org, “Like” me on FaceBook/Vegetating with Leslie or follow me on Twitter, @vegwithleslie.