Not only did I have my stock pot on the stove all night long with the bones from last night’s roast chicken, but I kept it busy all day today, too.

It occurred to me the other day that it’s been literally years since I made Vegetable Soup, and considering I’ve been on a soup kick lately, that clearly just had to change.

Now, my vegetable soup is always made from scratch and it’s almost entirely waste free, so that I use just about every part of the vegetables. It makes me feel thrifty. (We’ll ignore the part where Dad walked into the kitchen and–being a salad-lover–said, “Are you going to ruin all those vegetables?” Um, yes, Dad, I DO plan on cooking them, that’s how you make soup.)

Start by assembling the ingredients. Onion, celery, carrots, bell pepper, garlic, cabbage, canned tomato, green beans, baby spinach, ginger root.

To start with, I wash all the vegetables. Then, as I’m starting to slice, dice, peel all of them to put into the soup, all the parts I might normally throw away–the peels, the root ends, the onion peel, the outer leaves of the cabbage, the bell pepper core, all that stuff–I toss into a pot of water on the stove. This boils into a darn good vegetable stock that’s ready to use by the time I’ve got everything else in my soup pot.

Then, in a large pot, I heat a little vegetable oil and add the three classics: onion, celery, and carrots. (And, this time around, a little green pepper.)

Add some finely chopped green cabbage and let that cook down until it’s soft. Then add the green beans, the contents of two large cans of crushed tomatoes, and two peeled and diced potatoes. Also some red kidney beans and some corn. (I love corn in soup.) (I also decided at the last minute NOT to use the baby spinach.)

By now, the vegetable stock is ready. The vegetables have given their all, and I’ve got about 3 quarts of nicely flavored liquid to add to my soup. (These odds and ends, alas, are now destined for the garbage. They can only stave off the inevitable for so long.) I added about 2 quarts to my soup pot and saved another four cups for some other use.

Some seasonings. Basil, oregano, marjoram. Salt and pepper. A dash of allspice. A few bay leaves. (I love bay leaves.) And a dash of Worcestershire sauce.

And noodles, of course. The only non-vegetable ingredient (other than salt). Because I grew up on Campbells soup, this is really the only possible noodle.

Mmmm … served with a little parmesan cheese on top. Delicious!

The tricky part? Finding room in the freezer for all the rest…

Otherwise, we’re supposed to get socked by snow in the next 24 hours, so we’ll see how that goes. We’ve got plenty of soup, though!

Tags: Baking // 4 Comments »