Vegetable Soup

It's called "Mama's Vegetable Soup" but I remember my grandmother making this and her mother too. We just call it "Mama's Soup" and that covers all the generations that have made it.

All that said, it's just vegetable soup. Not a huge big deal. I love it, though, because it's easy and fairly cheap to make. With a good grilled cheese and some saltine crackers, it's makes a pretty great dinner! (And there's always lots left to freeze and/or to make lunches)

Mama's Soup

Begin the soup by coating the bottom of a dutch oven or a large pot with olive oil. Over medium-high heat, saute 1/2 an onion (or more) and 3 sliced carrots until tender. 

Add:

• 28oz can tomatoes (or a fresh one or two) 
• small can of sauce (I can't figure out how to get around this one by not using canned products. Unless a vegetable juice might work? I might try that next time and report the results.)
• 1 bay leaf (and as a friend reminded me to instruct in a recipe, take out the bay leaf before you serve soup)
• 1T dried parsley
• 1-2T of dried rosemary

Now you add your vegetables. You can put in what ever you choose. Here is what's in my soup right now (everything is frozen):

• 1C corn
• 1C speckled butter beans
• 1/2 pound frozen okra
• 1C green beans
• left over lima beans

I love this part because basically I just empty what ever bag of frozen something I have hanging out in the freezer. Makes me feel super thrifty!

I add about 20ish oz of water to the soup and pepper to taste and then bring it to a boil. Reduce heat and let it simmer for 2 hours on low. (Or you can do the saute part in a skillet and then throw everything in the Crock Pot.)

20 minutes before you are ready to eat, add pasta. I tend to like spiral pasta or penne (or in today's soup, both) because the thicker pasta holds up well in the soup. 

I add a lot of pasta, since it's cheap and really thickens up the soup. You may even need to add more water at this stage.

And that's it!