Loaded Vegetable Soup

Printed from: www.grandmotherskitchen.net

Ingredients

Makes: 16 cups

3 Tablespoons olive oil

1 medium size onion, diced

2 celery ribs, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

2 carrots, large (at least 10 inches) or use more smaller ones, washed or peeled and cut into small pieces

1 small green bell pepper, diced

1 red bell pepper, diced

4 tomatoes, vine ripened, medium sized diced

3 russet potatoes, medium large, washed and cut into cubes, leave the peel on

20 fresh white medium small mushrooms, sliced

1 small head broccoli, chopped into pieces- if you peel the stem part they will be more tender

1 1/2 cup fresh green beans, cut into bite size pieces about one inch (or use frozen if fresh not available)

1 1/2 cups frozen corn

1 1/2 cups frozen peas

1 (796ml) can fire roasted diced tomatoes

5 cups water

3 Tablespoons tomato paste

3 large bay leaves

1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, chopped (or dried if you don't have access to fresh)

1 Tablespoon sea salt or Himalayan salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes OR red cayenne pepper (optional and more or less to taste)

Directions

1. We prepared all the vegetables first. Wash your vegetables in cold water and put onto a towel to drain while you are doing your prepping. There are a lot of vegetables here so it is helpful to put the chopped one into plates or bowls. Once all the prep work is done have ready a large Dutch oven or a large soup pot as this ends up with 16 cups worth of soup.

2. Heat the olive oil in the Dutch oven over medium heat on the stove top.

3. Start with the onion, celery and garlic, put into the heated oil and cook a couple minutes.Use a wooden spoon to stir occasionally while things are cooking. Add the carrots and cook two minutes. Add the peppers and continue cooking. Each time you add a new vegetable cook for about 2 minutes before adding the next ones. Add the potatoes and sauté. Add the mushrooms and green beans and broccoli, stir in and sauté. Add the tomatoes, stir with the wooden spoon and continue to sauté. Add the corn and the peas, stir again to combine and cook another 2 minutes.

4. Add the canned diced roasted tomatoes and stir to combine. Add 5 cups of water and stir. Add the tomato paste, pepper, bay leaves, half the salt asked for in the recipe and stir to evenly combine.

5. Add the cayenne pepper or chili flakes if using. Start with only 1/8 teaspoon and do a taste test. Adjust flavor to your liking. Degree of hot will vary with brand and type you use. Be careful not to over spice.

6. Cut the basil leaves into small pieces and stir into the soup. Turn the heat up, cover with a lid and bring to a slow boil. Let cook 10 minutes, taking the lid off to stir occasionally. Turn heat to low and simmer 2.5 hours. Keep an eye and stir once in awhile. Shut off heat. You can serve now or if you are pre-making, let it cool to room temperature then put into the refrigerator.

ENJOY!

Return to this Loaded Vegetable Soup recipe or check out more recipes at Grandmother's Kitchen

Having some veggie soup in your fridge, ready to be eaten anytime is a great idea. Although, if you leave it in your fridge too long, it could start to get a layer of mold growing on it which can not only be harmful to your health, but it also makes the food pretty unappealing. The best way to prevent mold from growing on your vegetable soup if you want to keep it for longer than a few days is to keep it in the freezer. That way, you don’t have to worry about eating it right away, and you’ll always have soup ready to go whenever you need a good meal.

Preventing mold from growing in your home is a good idea too, and there are methods on how to remove mold from various places in your home too. Cleaning out your fridge regularly is a good idea since the food in your fridge may have grown mold on it at some point or another. So you want to get the spores out of the fridge, so they don’t grow again. Use natural kitchen cleaners like vinegar or lemon juice mixed in water to spray the inside of your fridge and leave it to sit for 15 minutes before wiping it clean. Do this at least once per month or so to protect your fridge from mold and bacteria.

The other appliance you’ll want to clean regularly is your dishwasher because the inside of the dishwasher is constantly moist. Simply run your dishwasher through a regular cycle with no dishes in it using an all natural dishwasher soap and some vinegar and your machine will smell and look fresh and clean.