Yummy Vegetable Soup

Note: This soup recipe is inspired by a recipe for Vegetable Soup (Soupe Paysanne) which appears in the 2006 edition of Joy of Cooking page 128 but I did it my way using what I had on hand & omitting the cabbage & turnips & butter which are mentioned in that recipe.  So here are the needed ingredients starting from the left of the photo: black pepper, olive oil, 1 bag of baby spinach, sea salt, optional 4 new potatoes, 3 white onions, 8 vine ripe tomatoes, 4 organic carrots, 8 stalks of celery & a bunch or 2 of parsley.

Tools: several cutting boards & a freshly sharpened 9 inch knife.

Begin by dicing 3 white onions, 4 organic carrots and  8 stalks of celery.  Put a bunch or 2 of parsley into the food processor and chop.  Set aside two 1/2 cups of chopped parsley to be added separately at later stages.

Heat 1/2 cup of olive oil or butter in an 8 quart soup pot and add the onions, carrots & celery.  Heat on medium about 10 minutes or til slightly softened.

Add 4 quarts of homemade chicken stock. [ Note on how to make your own stock: the other night when I simmered the 5 or so chicken breasts for the linguine dish I saved the liquid in the pot and after removing the meat from the bones put those bones back into the pot along with the bones of a 4 pound fryer I had saved previously in the freezer.  Then I added enough cold water to cover all the bones along with  2 unpeeled onions quartered, 2 carrots &  2 celery ribs cut into 1 inch pieces, 12 black peppercorns, 4 whole cloves, 1 bay leaf, 6 sprigs of parsley, 4 sprigs of thyme and simmered  this all for 4 hours partly covered then strained it & cooled it uncovered.  When it was just above 140 degrees I covered it & put it in the refrigerator.  Then just before using it today I skimmed the fat off the top and it was good to go into my soup yielding exactly the 4 quarts needed .]

Here I am chopping the 8 vine ripe tomatoes which were going into the pot next.  I figure each whole tomato chops into about a cup so that's 8 cups of chopped tomatoes.

It's optional but I added in 4 new potatoes which I had peeled & diced.  But if you are going low carb then reduce or eliminate these for sure.

Add 1/2 cup of chopped parsley.

Add 3 or 4 teaspoons of sea salt depending on how salty you want it

Stir in 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper, cover and cook about 35 minutes.

Chop up one bag of baby spinach (about 4 cups), add to the pot and cook 5 more minutes.

Right at the end add in the last reserved half cup of parsley and check the taste for any need of additional salt or pepper.

These are a delicious brand of whole grain rolls found in the freezer section of  Sprouts.

Hot rolls warm up from frozen in just 8 minutes at 400 degrees.

Here I'm about to enjoy my favorite hot rolls and vegetable soup with a favorite beverage too- a cup of mango nectar.

Males of this household preferred grilled cheese & avocado to accompany their soup.