Soup of the week

That's right folks. It's back! And none too soon, in fact a little late. I've been travelling and/or recovering from travelling non-stop since the end of September so I've barely cooked any meals since then and they've all been quickies or reheating leftovers. I was pretty excited last night to get a chance to cook a real meal and since it's cold now, we had soup. This week, I used a recipe that I got from my mother-in-law.

Creamy Vegetable Soup
skill level: easy peasy
time: 30 mins to 1 hour (depending on how fast you are at chopping vegetables)
yield: 4 quarts (10-12 servings)

1 large onion, chopped
1/4 cup butter
3 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
3 medium zucchini, chopped
1 bunch broccoli, chopped
2 quarts chicken broth
2 medium potatoes, peeled and shredded
1 tsp celery seed
1-2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
2 cups light cream

In large kettle, saute onions in butter until transparent but not brown. Add the sweet potatoes, zucchini and broccoli; saute lightly for 5 minutes or until crisp tender. Stir in broth; simmer for a few minutes. Add potatoes and seasonings; cook another 10 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Stir in cream and heat through.

Review: Use a really big pot. I used my 5 quart and it was getting hard to stir before I had even put in the cream so I had to break out the monster pot and transfer. I didn't really "chop" the veg, per se. More like cubed or chunked. Since there is no meat in this soup I wanted it to feel more hearty. Also, I forgot to shred the potatoes, they got chunked as well. It made the soup extra chunky but the broth was a bit thin because of it. I'll shred next time. I left out the celery seed because I'm not a fan and I don't have any and I didn't want to clutter up my spice shelf even more with something I'll never use. I also stuck to the low end of the cumin measurement because again, not a big fan, but I actually kind of liked it this time. I added garlic powder because I think most recipes should have garlic in them. I don't know how much, I just dumped 'til it smelled right. Maybe like 1-2 tsp?

We had it with crusty rolls and that was all. It made a ton. We both had huge servings and there was enough left over for 3-4 lunch servings and an entire big tupperware with enough for another whole meal that got put in the freezer. I was expecting Brent to want something else as a side but he didn't even seem to notice that there wasn't any meat so that's a good sign. Big hearty, healthy vegetarian soup. Yum!