Easy Tomato Vegetable Soup for the Soul

Anytime we're under the weather, I make a vat of this easy vegetable soup to cure what ails us. It's loaded with good stuff and healing herbs and spices.  While we've been fighting whatever this bug is for the past few days, it's caught up with all of us now.  So, veggie soup to the rescue!

Years ago, my 2nd mom showed me how to make her incredible chicken vegetable soup.  It was the soup she would make with whatever veggies she had on hand and in the freezer, some chicken, italian seasonings and half a jug of vegetable juice.  If she had leftover green beans or rice or corn or whatever from dinner one night, she would put them in freezer.  Then, when it was time to make the soup, she pulled everything out and tossed it in!

The basic recipe for this vegetable soup is so simple and extremely versatile.  Converting it to the whole food plant-based, vegan, oil-free version I make today was just as simple and delicious.  You can make this in a stockpot on the stove or in a crockpot. Some of the staples I always include are: onion, celery, carrot, garlic, corn, green beans, zucchini and yellow squash and tomatoes.

But, you can throw in whatever strikes your fancy to make this easy vegetable soup.  Some ideas for variations: potatoes, rice, pasta, bell peppers, mushrooms, kidney beans, cannellini beans, chickpeas, lentils, roasted bell peppers, kale, spinach, swiss chard, butternut squash, asparagus, cauliflower, broccoli.

Here it is bubbling away!

When you make this, let me know how you like it!

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Easy Tomato Vegetable Soup

Yield: Serves 8

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Total Time: 55 minutes

An easy and extremely versatile oil-free, vegan, plant-based vegetable soup that is cheap to make, delicious and filling.

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Ingredients

• 1 large sweet onion, chopped
• 8 stalks celery, chopped
• 2 cups carrot, chopped
• 5 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tablespoons dried Italian seasonings
• 1 tablespoon granulated garlic
• 2 cups green beans, fresh or frozen, sliced into 2 inch pieces if not already smallish pieces
• 1 bag frozen corn
• 2 cans diced or stewed tomatoes
• 1 can tomato paste
• 1 zucchini, quartered longwise and cut into 1 inch pieces
• 1 yellow squash, quartered longwise and cut into 1 inch pieces
• salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

1. Fill your pot halfway with water and turn on high. Then, add the onion, celery, carrot, garlic, Italian seasonings and granulated garlic, stir and bring to a boil.
2. Turn heat down to medium low and simmer ingredients until the onion is mostly translucent.
3. Add green beans, corn, tomatoes and tomato paste (and any beans, uncooked white rice or other non-tender veggies at this point) and turn heat to medium. Bring to a slow boil and cook for about 10 minutes.
4. Add zucchini, squash, salt and pepper and cook for 5 minutes. (If you're going to add pasta, already cooked rice or any other tender veggie, this would be when to add it.)
5. Taste and adjust seasonings, as needed. Sometimes, I add more Italian seasonings or a bit more tomato or tomato paste.
6. Serve piping hot by itself or with crusty whole grain bread or crackers.

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