Another soup post - can you stand it? Hey, it's winter, and I'm a stay-at-home-mom! I started the soup simmering in the late morning today, and then went out to our peninsula (on our pond) to feed the wildlife with Regan (she left some carrots) and to cut branches for a project. It was pretty nippy and our cheeks were bright red when we came in!

During Regan's nap, and as the soup continued to simmer, I spray painted the branches white and sprinkled them with clear glitter (it sticks to the wet paint; brilliant!) for a cute wintry display in the kitchen (photos to come). Then it was time for a nice, quiet, SOLITARY lunch (Regan gorged on cheese and cereal before her nap - her choice) of vegetable soup (using quite a few frozen veggies from this year's garden) and a tasty Swiss cheese open face sandwich. There is no recipe for this soup, per se, but here's what I threw together:

Quick Vegetable Soup

assorted vegetables - use what you have: I used one-quart freezer bags of green beans and corn from my garden, plus a cup and a half of thawed frozen peas I found in my freezer, a can of Cannellini beans, 15 or so chopped baby carrots and half an onion, chopped.

4 cups beef broth ( I used bouillon cubes in water)

2-3 cups hot water

a tiny can of tomato paste

Italian seasoning

salt & pepper

Combine beef broth (I prefer beef broth over chicken when making vegetable soup), tomato paste and water in a large soup pot. You could use veggie bouillon or stewed tomatoes; I happened to have tomato paste which made a nice, thick "tomatoey" soup. Add chopped vegetables and seasonings, and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer soup for at least half an hour (I simmered mine for 3 hours; to thicken the liquid).

How easy is that? Use whatever combination of vegetables you have on hand; the possibilities are endless! I forgot I had zucchini in my freezer too, it would have gone great in the soup! And, man, if we'd only had alphabet pasta! Maybe next time...