Vegetable Soup

It had been a long time since I had vegetable soup from a can, then several months ago I was sick and was craving it. I tried it and couldn’t even finish half of it, not because I wasn’t feeling well but because it just tasted off. Finally I’ve gotten around to trying it homemade and I will never want another can again, it’s 100 times better homemade.

This soup is completely delicious and it’s easy to make. It just takes some chopping and a fair amount of simmering until you’ve got a soup worth remembering. This is one you’ll definitely want to add to your dinner rotation. It is probably one of the healthiest things I’ve made for dinner in a while. I had two bowls then came back before bed for a third because I liked it so much. I love that it uses half fresh veggies and half frozen so you still get all that freshness but have the ease of pre-cut frozen veggies too. During the summer when you have all the fresh veggies on hand definitely feel free to use all fresh instead.

Vegetable Soup

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Yield: About 7 servings

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onion (1 medium)
• 2 cups peeled and chopped carrots (about 4)
• 1 1/4 cups chopped celery (about 3)
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 (14.5 oz) cans low-sodium chicken broth or vegetable broth
• 2 (14.5 oz) cans diced tomatoes (undrained)
• 3 cups peeled and 1/2-inch thick diced potatoes (from about 3 medium)
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 1/2 cups chopped frozen or fresh green beans
• 1 1/4 cups frozen or fresh corn
• 1 cup frozen or fresh peas 

Directions

• Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add onions, carrots, and celery and saute 3 - 4 minutes then add garlic and saute 30 seconds longer. Pour in broth (if you want lesser ratio of broth use 3 cans then only 3/4 cup of the 4th can) and add tomatoes, potatoes, parsley, bay leaves, thyme and season with salt and pepper to taste (if you want a really flavorful soup you can add in more dried herbs, I prefer to let the flavors of the vegetables shine though and not overdue it). Bring to a boil, then add green beans, reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer until potatoes are tender, about 20 - 30 minutes, then add corn and peas and cook 5 minutes longer. Serve warm.
• Recipe Source: Cooking Classy