Vegetable Soup Fix

Soup is the only answer to the holiday binging.  And a vegetable soup must restore some semblance of health and balance.  Right? Even without flax or Chia or any other supplemental nutrient?  The vegetables are nutrients themselves – right? Sometimes size does matter.  My friend Bob likes the vegetables in soup the size that Campbells soup dictated.  I like them in chunks determined by my Eastern European heritage and grandparents who liked them looking hearty and meaty even though the meat was missing.

I even took a photo of them pre-diced and souped up.

Gorgeous morsels.

Here is my so-called recipe:

Everything Vegetable Soup

• Onions – 1 or 2 cut in small chunks
• potatoes – one large cut up or some small potatoes such as fingerlings cut in half
• Carrots – 2 or 3 cut up
• Parsnips – 2 or 3 cut up
• Turnip in chunks
• Swiss chard/spinach/kale cut up
• Green beans cut in 1/2 inch pieces
• Zucchini in 1 inch chunks
• salt and pepper
• bay leaf or thyme (optional)
• (pasta such as macaroni or small shells)
• (olive oil)
• (Parmesan cheese)

Using a large soup pot, put the first 3 vegetables into the pot – the onions, carrots, parsnips, potatoes and turnips and cover with water. Add another  8 inches that will cover the remaining vegetables when they are added.  Cook the vegetables slowly over a low heat for about 45 minutes.  Add the rest of vegetables and cook until they are soft and tender.  Add the salt and pepper and herbs if you are using them and continue cooking for about 10 minutes.

If you want to make this soup somewhat Italian, add some tomatoes, cannelloni beans when you add the softer vegetables.  Cook the pasta separately and add when the soup has finished cooking.  

When the soup is served, serve the olive oil and Parmesan cheese in bowls for diners to add to taste.

Did you notice this recipe has nothing to do with jam?  That can come for dessert in the form of cookies.……..

These excellent cookies appeared in a blog by Ken Rivard and Jody Adams – They used my Apricot Orange, Black & Blue and Raspberry Lime Jam.  So proud!! 

Or Cheese and Jam: