A Simple Organic Soup

At my daughter's request, I made soup over the weekend. Soup is really easy to heat and serve during the week.

I never follow a recipe when I make soup. I just use what I have on hand. In this pot I combined fresh produce from my Urban Acres share, a can of organic stewed tomatoes (28 ounces, I think), a can of great northern beans, and 32 ounces of organic chicken stock.

The produce I used included onions, celery, carrots, the stem of the broccoli, and spinach. I added some chopped garlic, garlic and herb seasoning, salt and pepper. I didn't measure, I just threw it all in.

I sauteed the veggies first, then added the canned ingredients and brought everything to a boil. Then I reduced the heat and let it simmer for a while. Maybe 30 minutes. I added about 8 ounces of organic cream from Texas Daily Harvest at the very end.

Then. I pulled out one of my new kitchen gadgets. (Admittedly, I had to google it when writing this post to see what it was actually called because I'm too lazy to walk into the kitchen to look.) It's a Cuisinart Smart Stick Immersion Hand Blender. It sounds way fancier than $25, but it's not.

So I grabbed that Immersion Hand Blender (I can't bring myself to refer to it as a Smart Stick) and beat those vegetables into submission. So much faster than a blender and way easier to clean.

I had some leftover homemade parmesan bread that I sliced, sprayed with cooking spray and then toasted in the oven until they became giant croutons. I added some organic parmesan (from Texas Daily Harvest) and voila, soup with cheese and croutons.

A slightly less sophisticated plate, this is what I served to the kids. There's a salad made with goodies from the share (dressed with olive oil and balsamic vinegar), as well as some more fresh fruit.

Another quick and easy weeknight meal.