So one day, I went to Ikea with my friend Wanda and bought a giant pot. It was like, 10 bucks. Ikea rocks my world.
After I bought my giant pot, I decided to make soup.
SO HERE'S THE SOUP I'VE MADE! It's from Vegan On The Cheap!
Summer Garden Soup Pg 69
This delightful soup appealed to me because it literally is chock full of veggies. I often crave veggies, especially really hearty ones like carrots and sweet potatoes and squash, so this recipe looked SIMPLY DELIGHTFUL.
So in your pile of veggies, you'll have:
Onion
Garlic
Potatoes
Carrots
Green Beans
Squash
Tomatoes
Zucchini
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS SO MANY VEGETABLES TO APPEASE MY VEGGIE-LUST.
So you're going to chop up the onion, carrot, potatoes, garlic, and green beans first. Mince the garlic, cut the beans into 1-inch pieces. Chop the rest however the hell you want. <3
On a side note, this onion made me sob. I rarely ever sob because of onion chopping, but this one was a real tear-jerker.
I use a few tricks to prevent myself from onion-cries. First of all, I ALWAYS chill my onions. Second of all, I usually open all my windows and chop by a window so the onion fumes go outside and don't get trapped in my little apartment (this is where I failed this time). Finally, I always chop super fast so my onion doesn't get warm and start secreting those stinging chemicals before I'm done chopping it!
There are other tricks, however, to prevent onion-cries:
- Wear goggles
- Burn a candle nearby
- Chop it under running water
- Hold a slice of bread in your mouth while you chop
So after you've finished crying over your onion, you will heat up some olive oil in a giant pot.
Add your chopped veggies!
While your first batch of veggies is simmering, you will chop up the rest of your veggies.
I think I was supposed to buy a summer squash, but a bought a winter delicata squash instead. Woops! :-]
Anyways, you will have chopped zucchini, chopped squash, and chopped tomatoes to throw into your pot.
Now that you've got that going on, you will throw in your soup stock. I use this better-than-bouillon stuff they sell at Madison Market (it's vegan and tastes JUST like chicken stock!) but you can use whatever you like.
You can even go super-hippie and use your own vegetable stock you've made by chopping up a billion vegetables. Look at you, you little hippie-vegan-freak!
I'm really just jealous, though, because I want to be a super cool hippe-vegan-freak.
Once your soup has been simmering for about 20 minutes, you will add some fresh parsley and fresh basil to the mix. The smells will delight you. :-]
Give your soup a few more minutes to cook, and it's ready to go!
SOUPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP
(PS: The recipe called for white beans to be put into the soup too, but I thought the soup was already chunky enough with the veggies that the beans would just weigh it down. I may have put some barley into it if I had some on hand, though...:-]
RATINGS:
Ease of preparation: 4/5
Lots of chopping! But really, since it all goes into one batch of food and it's hard to mess up simply cooking stuff in a big pot, it's overall not that difficult.
Deliciousness: 4/5
Really satisfying, hearty soup. However, I would probably not have cooked the potatoes in with the first batch of vegetables becasue they got overcooked and mushy. I also would probably add some more fresh herbs to the mix. A little fresh oregano never hurt anyone!
Prettiness: 2/5
For being such a veggie-filled soup, this ends up looking pretty mushy and kinda unappetizing. The veggies, being cooked pretty well, don't look as vibrant as they did when they were fresh.
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