Soup, Soup, Soup

I have been craving soup for weeks, with the weather so dreary so often I just gave in and made the soup. It was very easy to make. I just though about the soups we've made before and the vegetables we both like.

Ingredients

• 2 Medium Yellow Onions, chopped in chunks or smaller if you want
• 3 Small/Medium White Potatoes, diced as small or as large as you choose
• 4 Celery Stalks, diced
• 5 Carrots, sliced diagonally (I used 5 carrots because I love them so but I have so many ingredients that they are not the star I would have hoped for)
• Kale, about 4 cups chopped more if like but it's what we had on hand (thanks, Hatsy)
• 2 8oz packages of Sliced Mushrooms, I used Baby Bellas and White
• 28 oz can Crushed Tomatoes, Molly wanted tomatoes in the soup and thought crushed was the right kind turns out we needed diced tomatoes. If you use the crushed the soup will have a tomatoes base and taste delicious. If you try it with diced please let us know how it turns out.
• 2 cups Vegetable Broth
• 2 cups Water
• Olive Oil
• Salt and Pepper

Instructions as I remember it and the changes I thought of as I was eating last night

1. In a large pot heat 2-3 tablespoons of Olive oil (I use Extra Virgin because that's what we buy) over medium heat. If the heat is too high the onions will caramelize and you really just want them to soften and release their flavor. So add the onions when the oil is hot and cook until translucent. Now I say add the celery here because they were crunchy in the soup last night because I added them with the carrots and potatoes. Molly did not mind but I wanted them to add flavor and not crunch when I ate my soup. Cook for 2 minutes or so giving the celery a head start of the other vegetables.
2. When the celery starts to soften add the carrots and potatoes, you can salt and pepper the vegetables now I did not and the soup was a little bland. I was not paying attention to the soup at this point so I think the vegetables were cooking for about 5 minutes or so. If you want to eat within 15 minutes you should cook the vegetables until almost done. If you can wait just cook them until that soften around the edges.
3. Add the broth, water, and tomatoes. Bring the soup to a boil by raising the heat to high. Once boiling add the Mushrooms and Kale. The kale will cook down and because the soup was boiling it will happen quickly but just add handfuls of kale at a time until it is all in the pot. Give everything a good stir and let boil for about 2 minutes. Watch the soup very carefully at this point so as not the create a mess. You soup bubbling over the pot and onto the stove, eww.
4. Now reduce the heat to low and allow the soup to simmer for no more than 30 minutes. We went to the store (which I do not advise for safety reasons) and when we returned the soup was ready for consumption. No we were not gone for 30 minutes we decided to go about 10 minutes into the simmer.

The soup will reduce in liquid so you can serve it over a grain (we like Quinoa and Cous Cous but rice is fine) or maybe make some cornbread and serve it with that. Be creative, add what every vegetables you want. As long as you know how long they need to cook you should be able to wing it. Let cooking be fun don't stress over the little things. Unlike baking nothing has to be exact, if you have less of something that's fine just go with the flow.

Oh I forgot herbs and spices. I did not add any because of the broth and tomatoes but ideally Thyme and Oregano would be good in soup but you can try different things. I thought about making it a little spicy with Cayenne (remember a little goes a long way, I have to post the Spiced Pita Crisps incident). You could use Paprika, Rosemary, Garlic Powder/Salt, really whatever tastes good to you.

Okay so that was a recipe I created myself from different things I have cooked over the last few months. Feel free to try it out and give us some much needed feedback.