Boyfriend Soup

Trying to go on a diet makes you learn a lot about yourself. Such as: how much you whine when you're hungry; how unfulfilling some foods can be; how much I craved simple things like tomatoes. So I quit. I was unhappy, I needed food, and I quit the exclusion diet. And the first thing I did after quitting was ask my boyfriend what he wanted for supper.

"I'll make anything for you. Just tell me what you're craving and I'll make it," and I was ready for some crazy request since this guy is as food-crazy as I am. And he blind-sided me.

With vegetable soup.

I've made variants of this batch a couple of times now. When I made it for the boyfriend, the soup didn't last the night. All following variants have been equally delish.

Root Veggie Boyfriend Soup

(no boyfriends were harmed in the making of this soup)

Tablespoon of Oil

1 or 2 small Onions

Rosemary, Thyme

2 Tomatoes and their juices

3 or 4 stalks of Celery

3 or 4 Carrots

4 or 5 small Potatoes

1 zucchini

Can of Corn

3 cups of vegetable broth**

Water to cover veggies

Rough chop all of the vegetables into decent sized chunks for soup.

In a large pot, heat up the oil and add the onions, celery and herbs. Cook until the onions are clear. Add the tomatoes and their juices, cook a little more. 

Add the zucchini and root veggies: carrots & potatoes in this case. Add the can of corn (and most of it's juices if you like a sweeter soup), broth and water and bring to a boil. Boil uncovered for about 20 minutes or until root veggies are done, skipping the top for foam every once in a while.

Recommended yummy additions: turkey, chicken, parsnips, lentils, beans

** When I'm lazy, I use Campbell's Vegetable Broth because it's listed as gluten free, but making your own broth is really easy and just as delish.

It's fun to just randomly throw things into a pot with some broth and water and see what kind of soups you turn up with.

Soups = Alchemy