Vegetable Soup

Returning home from San Francisco and Sonoma after an incredible vacation of friends, good food and lots of wine tasting (more on that to come!) I needed to get back on track with my eating and exercising!

The first thing that came to mind as a meal to get us through a few days was a rustic vegetable soup.  I picked up a few ingredients at lunch and assessed what, if anything, we had left in the fridge once I got home.  I let it simmer for quite awhile while sorting through our vacation photos.  Luckily J came home with a spare loaf of bread with roasted garlic to round out the meal!

VEGETABLE SOUP

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 onion chopped
2 carrots peeled and sliced
1 clove garlic minced
1 zucchini, halved and sliced
1/2 head cauliflower, broken up into very small florets
12-15 green beans, sliced
1 red potato diced
1 handful parsley chopped
1 small bunch kale chopped
32 oz. chicken stock
1 can crushed fire roasted tomatoes
a pinch of celery salt
1 tsp or so chili paste
a few dashes worstershire sauce
salt and pepper
1/2 can white beans, rinsed

In a stock pot, heat the oil over medium heat.  Prepare the onion, carrot and garlic and add that to the oil with some salt and pepper.  I let those soften while I chopped the rest of the veggies.

Next add the cauliflower.  While that cooks, chop the potato and run it under water to try to get rid of some of the starch and chop the kale, parsley and green beans.

Add the stock, canned tomatoes (with their juices), potato, green beans, kale and parsley.

Toss in the chili paste and a couple of dashes of the worstershire.

Bring the soup to a boil and then lower to a simmer for about an hour. 

If needed, add a little extra water.

Add the beans a few minutes before you are going to turn off the soup so that they heat but don't get mushy. 

Taste and adjust spices if necessary.