Vegetable Soup - and It Ain't Campbell's

Even though we are in the middle of June, I decided to make soup!  One reason for this madness is I needed more space in my freezer - Brian had frozen two big containers of chicken broth that he had made following a couple of rotisserie chickens (see blog post of June 27, 2010) and they were taking up too much room.  The other reason for this madness is that is that Brian was coming home from a surgical procedure and I figured soup, with lots of vegetables, would be a nice, healing food to have around the house.

I found a basic vegetable soup recipe on the internet, and then, as Gourmet Gibbs is prone to do, I altered it based upon what I had in my fridge (some items were purchased in anticipation of making soup).  So feel free to make your own modifications, based upon what you have or what you like, but the soup I made calls for the following ingredients, listed in order of appearance:

4 Tablespoons Olive Oil
3 Medium Onions
6 Stalks Celery
1 8-ounce package Mushrooms
3 Carrots
4 Small to Medium Potatoes
2/3 Head Cauliflower
1 Large (28 oz?) Can Diced Tomatoes
6 Scallion Onions
2 Teaspoons Thyme
2 Teaspoons Marjoram
2 Teaspoons Salt
16 Cups Chicken Broth
5 Small Zucchini Squash



Wash all your vegetables, and cut off both ends of all vegetables that have two ends (Cauliflower does not).  Chop the Onions and Celery and place them in a large soup/stock pan.  Add the Olive Oil and sauté over low heat.  Next slice the Mushrooms and add these to the sauté mixture.

Continue to

sauté, stirring occasionally, until the veggies look good and sautéed to you!



Leave the pot over low heat, and return to the chopping block!  Peel the carrots and slice into sizes you want for your soup, and dice the
potatoes as well, not too big of pieces.  Combine the carrots, potatoes along with the can of Diced Tomatoes (packing juice, too) to your pot, stir in,  leave over low heat, with the lid on, for another 15 minutes or so, storing occasionally.

Next, add in the Chicken Broth.  If you've got homemade, so much the better, but if not, canned or cartoned will do just fine (I think - I've only made this soup once, and I used homemade).  Let the pan sit over the heat and chop the scallions.





 OOPS - the forgotten ingredients!  They were not present during the original photo shoot for the ingredients, so I had to schedule the photographer to come back and shoot them separately.  

Next add the spices, along with the scallions, and stir thoroughly.

Put the lid back on, and let the broth and soup catch up to the veggies in a low simmer.  While you're waiting, chop the Zucchini into soup-size slices.
 Add the sliced Zucchini, stir thoroughly, put the lid back on and let the soup continue a low simmer for another 20 - 30 minutes, stirring occasionally - until the Zucchini is tender, but not mush.

IS IT SOUP YET?   YES!!!
Mmmmmm, good - Enjoy.