Cooking Sans Catastrophe: Crowded Veggie Soup

This is probably my first time feeling like a real chef. I made something and I honestly IMPROVISED!

This is a big step for a cook who is religiously by the recipe every single time. I may add one or two things to the recipe, or change a measurement based on the ingredients I do or don't have. But that's as creative as it get for me. 

Yesterday, I decided it had been two long since I had messed up an obscene amount of dishes, made a colossal wreck of my kitchen, and ended up with something edible. 

So when I went to the store, I perused the produce sections (are you hearing the veggie tales theme songs? I'm hearing the veggie tales theme song.) and got pretty much anything that my pregnant appetite thought looked yummy. 

So, veggie soup it was. :) Would it be cruel to play the theme song now? I think the chef from the muppets might be more appropriate. But anyway. 

I guess it is appropriate when posting a recipe (if you can call it that), to include your ingredients. However, there are obviously no measurements. Soup is when you get to have fun and do it just how you like it. :)

Ingredients:

• carrots
• celery
• yellow onion
• red potatoes
• yellow squash
• zuchinni
• diced tomatoes
• canned green beans
• canned corn
• light red kidney beans
• vegetable broth
• celery salt
• garlic salt
• onion powder
• cumin
• thyme
• oregano
• parsley
• bay leaves (2)

I did open my Vegan Planet cookbook to a farmhouse soup recipe, mainly just to get an idea of what steps to do first, but for the most part, the recipe is completely mine. :) Scary, no? This story is most easily told through pictures, so here we go:

First, I chopped up an onion, a bag of carrots, and half a bag of celery. I heated some oil in the pot and poured those three in to cook until softened.

At this point, I had a suspicion it was going to be a little crowded in this pot.

I feel like I'm playing produce poker.

Sauteed the squash and zucchini in a separate pan. Added to the pot when they were softened.

I think this is three small to medium red potatoes, chopped into relatively manageable bites? Nah, they were kind of big. Chopped them up and threw them in the pot.

And this the point at which I got lazy. Without draining, I added one of each, except the diced tomatoes. I ended up added another can of those.

Yep, just like a commercial. After adding the cans, I added broth, pretty much until the pot was full and the veggies were mostly covered. By the way, I bought this container of broth for $0.40 on a coupon trip. :)

And this is why we call it crowded soup.

Added my little army of spices. :) all are listed above, if you can't read the labels.

Once I got it boiling, all I wanted to do was quote Macbeth. "Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble..." bwahahaha. Ok. I'm done now. :P

Snuggling after enjoying some soup. I don't think he's going to hear anything in there, except soup. :P

And finally, Peden's lunch fora  week. :) Easy to take to work, and we still have half a pot full left.