No, I Am Not a Cooking Blog.... BUT..... This Vegetable Soup Recipe is Too Good Not to Share!

Hello Friends!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1ubUzeAYMczOXpaTWpQQTBhYUU/view?usp=sharing

Hello Friends,

Yep, that's true... I am NOT a cooking blog BUT....... I know that when talking to my teacher friends, we are always eager to share healthy and tasty recipes with each other, so I thought "Why not share an occasional recipe with blogging friends?" So... here I go......

I KNOW it is summer and we do not think of soup when the weather is HOT, but with all the yummy vegetables around now, summer is actually a great time to make soup. I actually had this soup for the first time when I was visiting my brother in San Francisco a few years ago. We were there in July and being the mid-western girl that I am, I was blown away with the freshness of the fruits and vegetables there. We went to a local Farmer's Market and it was incredible seeing all the yummy choices. We, here in the Midwest, have great local produce, too, but we still have to import things that do not grow here naturally AND our local produce is limited to the summer months. My brother and his family are so blessed to be able to get their hands on fresh produce all year! How lucky they are!

We started this soup early in the morning because we planned to be out in the city all day. The soup takes a bit of prep at the beginning, but when that is finished, you can put it in the crock pot, go out and enjoy the day, and have dinner ready when you return. You also can simmer it on top of your stove if you will be home all day. Simmering on top of the stove works great, but in the summer, I think this heats up the kitchen too much, so I prefer the crock pot.

So, here are the simple steps: The recipe above give you exact ingredients for the soup, but you can use any types and amounts of vegetables that you prefer. I did not have all the ingredients when I made mine. I used what was in my fridge. This is where the prep comes in! Once you have your veggies picked out and washed, you have to cut them all into pieces. I use a peeler on the potatoes because the skin will come off during the cooking time and I don't like that skin floating in my soup. It's individual preference, of course!

Step 2: Do NOT skip this step! This is what makes the soup different from other vegetable soup recipes! After the veggies are sliced and diced, put them on a cookie sheet and roast them until they are reduced by about half - Do not burn them, though! I roast mine at 400 degrees for about 45 minutes. I also toss them with a little olive oil; not a lot because olive oil burns, but I like the taste of olive oil, so I add it. The reason you roast the veggies is because it dehydrates them; pulling the water out, so that when they go into the pot, the veggies re-hydrate with the yummy broth from the soup. So good!!! If you use frozen veggies, like corn or peas, add those to the mix about half through. Frozen veggies have a ton of water in them, so to keep your soup from being watery, you need to dehydrate them a little, too before putting into the soup.

Step 3: Add the veggies to a crock pot or stew pot on the top of your stove. Now, go enjoy the day!

Step 4: Come home and smell the delicious aroma of your soup..... Enjoy!

I have been eating a clean eating diet since March, so I am very picky about the foods I eat now. I go by the "No more than 5 ingredients" in any boxed food that I buy and in actuality, I really do not prefer much of anything in a box since I started eating WHOLE food. One website that I LOVE is Skinny Ms because all the recipes there are tested and they work hard to make sure that their recipes are clean and filled with whole food. So, when I made the soup last week, I made these yummy, yummy CLEAN EATING CHOCOLATE COCONUT MUFFINS. They...... were....... AMAZING! Click the image to take you the recipe! YUM, YUM, YUM!