minnie stronie zoop? it's thanksgiving week, i've got a lot of food on my mind. okay, it's just the bird i've got to deal with. and the stuffing. and a token vegetable. i'm thinking about brining and how i need a cooler and get some ice and get the thing soaked before we drive the kiddos over the river and through the woods...

wait, where was i? oh, yeah, so the stuffing. i've gotta chop the bread and dry it out but the girls are hogging up the kitchen making muffins for the family breakfast at the girls school and i'm not going to have enough time...

breathe.

okay.

so i really wasn't in the mood to make a whole lotta food this week knowing that we're gonna end the week with a whole lot more food. plus, what do you make when it's (a) cold, (b) you wanna cook light and (c) you don't want any duplication with thanksgiving?

soup.

this is a memory soup, meaning that i started with a recipe for a minestrone soup that was 15 minutes start to finish but it used the microwave. and i hate the microwave for things like soup. so i decided to stove-top it (not the stuffing mix!) and once i got rolling i started adding things i found around the kitchen (not the dust bunnies at the base of the fridge!) until it became something more along the lines of a regular ol' vegetable soup. i think that's what i'll call it.

a regular ol' vegetable soup

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
  
• a large red onion, chopped fine
• 2 stalks of celery, diced
• 2 carrots, also diced
• 1 zucchini, sliced length-wise into quarters, then diced
• 1 yellow squash, same size as the zuke, cut the same
• a handful of green beans, ends trimmed, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 1 14 oz. can of navy or great northern beans, drained, rinsed
  
• 32 oz. vegetable broth
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 5 cloves of garlic, crushed, pressed or chopped as desired
• 1/3 cup of pearled barley
• 2 teaspoons dried parsley
• pepper to taste -- don't you dare use any salt!
  

this is one of those where you can chop and add as you go.
heat your trusty soup pot on medium heat and add the oil.
chop-and-add-as-you-go the first six ingredients, stirring them as you add them.
add the beans, broth and tomato paste and stir to mix. increase the heat until the soup begins to boil slightly.
add the garlic, parsley and barley, stir to mix and bring everything to a nice simmer.

cook until the barley is soft and chewy, about 15 to 20 minutes.
serve with slices of baguette toasted with a nice sharp cheese. i like dubliner chedder or gruyere.
kids really approved: no leftovers!  ¶ Tuesday, November 21, 2006