Hearty Vegtable Soup

Let's cook together this morning!  Run around the kitchen and gather all these ingredients.  Don't forget TWO cans of diced tomatoes and TWO cartons of chicken broth.  I did.  =)

Chop up the onion.  This was a particularly big one so I reserved some of it for our pizza tomorrow night.  Did you know there is an art to cutting an onion?  Watch this short video to learn how.  =)

Drizzle a bit of olive oil in the bottom of a big stock pot and dump in the chopped onion.  Add a generous sprinkle of salt and a good pinch of black pepper.  Stir and saute until the onions are translucent.  

Take two cartons of chicken broth, two cans of diced tomatoes (with the juices) and one can of tomato paste and add them to the onion mixture.  Give it a good swish with a wooden spoon or whisk to break up and blend the tomato paste.  I like to turn the burner down to low at this point so I don't get tomato juice eruptions all over my stove-top. 

Wash the veggies under cold running water.  You'll need four stalks celery, five carrots, and two to three potatoes.  I happened to have some mini Red Bliss potatoes growing eyes that needed to be used. I think I used about a dozen of them.  Add all three vegetables to the stockpot and give a stir to combine with the tomato/broth mixture.

 

Open up two cans of beans, drain off the juice, and give them a good rinse with cold water.  Add those to the vegetable/tomato/broth mixture and give a stir to combine.  I like to add a bit more salt and pepper before I turn the heat up to simmer for an hour.  Give the soup a couple stirs during the hour of simmering to keep any bits from sticking to the bottom of the stock-pot.

Here's my lunch!  It tastes really good.  The vegetables are tender but not mushy.  It's seasoned perfectly.  The pepper adds a nice kick without being spicy.  And my favorite part ... this is such a frugal meal to make.  =)

HEARTY VEGETABLE SOUP

• 1 1/2 cups diced onion
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons pepper
• 2 tablespoons EVOO
• 2 cups diced potatoes (3 large potatoes)
• 2 cups diced carrots (5 carrots)
• 1 1/2 cups chopped celery (4 stalks)
• 1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can corn, drained (SORRY, I completely forgot this!)
• 8 cups chicken broth
• 2 cans diced tomatoes
• 1 can tomato paste

Saute onions with salt and pepper in EVOO.  Add broth and tomatoes to stock pot; whisk until smooth.  Add vegetables.  Simmer for 45 to 60 minutes.