the best vegetable soup

Wednesday and Thursday evenings are packed with activities. In the midst of shuttling here and there, I struggle to put together a decent dinner. As brave (read: crazy) souls who work for ourselves, we have been scraping bottom for the last few weeks, clinging to our last ten dollars, waiting for the windfall that is next month. As a result, other than the unexpected organic vegetable delivery that came yesterday, it's slim pickings in the food department.

While I locked myself in the bathroom yesterday afternoon to get a break, I quickly scanned through various cookbooks to see what I could make that would be quick and easy and make everyone happy. With the ingredients I had on hand, not much. An Herbed Vegetable Soup in the Big Book of Soups and Stews (that has some really outstanding recipes), inspired me to put together this soup. It was a hit! I can't wait to eat it again for lunch today.

The Best Vegetable Soup
2 T butter
1 onion, chooped
2 garlic cloves, minced
~3 cups chopped veggies (I used 2 carrots, 2 celery stalks, 2 small peeled potatoes, 4 mushrooms, a handful of cauliflower florets)
3 cups vegetable broth*
1 t salt
1/2 t basil
1/4 t oregano
freshly ground pepper
a couple handfuls of whole wheat pasta**
grated parmesan

Heat butter in dutch oven and saute onions and garlic about 5 minutes. Add veggies, broth, spices and salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 15 minutes. Stir in pasta. Cover and simmer another 10-15 minutes. Ladle into bowls and top with cheese. (This soup is more like a stew. We liked it that way. Just add more broth or water if you don't.)

*I hate how much organic broth costs and the waste of all the cartons. We steam a lot of broccoli and cauliflower and green beans around here, so I have been saving the vitamin-rich water that results after steaming. (I remember that my grandma used to cool and drink this water on the spot. Probably one of the reasons she was hardly sick a day in her lovely long life.) The steamed veggie water makes excellent FREE broth!

**The only pasta I had in the house was whole wheat spaghetti. So I grabbed a bunch of spaghetti and broke it into thirds. I think the noodles are part of what made this soup so yummy.