On soup, again, and winter

I don’t think I was meant to live in the South. Now, I’m not saying that I hate it, mind you. There’s nothing like a good slow drawl with a “Well, bless her heart!”, and going to get your hair did and fried chicken and corn on the cob and orange Nehi and microwaved moonpies. Ahem. The reason I am saying that I don’t think I was meant to live in the South? Here it is, the beginning of September, and I am dreaming of cold. Slow cooked food, hot lattes, cardigans, and clouds of warm breath float through my head. I step outside and the 100-degree, cloudless-sky, moisture-sucking Arizona day banishes any hope that I can finally don a hand-knit scarf.

That said, I’ve been wanting soup. Lots and lots and lots of soup. The only thing to do, is to cook it myself! Since I made my first pot of soup, soup from a can just can’t compare. Soon, I’ll have an immersion blender and can start making all sorts of creamy soups, but for now, the broth-based ones are just as good. And they’re so stupidly simple to make! Here, let me show you! If you need to, you can click on the pictures to get to the big version.

First, we need to gather up our ingredients. In this instance, I used mustard greens, rainbow chard, carrots, low sodium chicken broth, Great Northern Beans, tomatoes, frozen vegetable mix, quinoa, and left over baked chicken breast from the night before. Not pictured are salt, pepper, and rosemary.

Next we need to cook the quinoa! I’ve you’ve never had quinoa, it’s this pseudo cereal grain-esque thing that’s chock full of protein. It’s great in curries, and soups, and as a side dish. It’s really really good. For this soup, we are going to measure out 1 cup of uncooked quinoa in our new Pyrex measuring cup. Any old measuring cup will do, if you don’t happen to have a new Pyrex one.

Add the quinoa to two cups of water. Once the water starts boiling, put a lid on that pot and turn the burner down to low. Let it simmer, and stir it when you have time.

Chop up your greens. They don’t need to be teeny tiny. They’ll shrink down a lot. While you chop up the greens, heat some olive oil in a pot, preferably the pot you’re going to be using to cook the soup. I said we’re doing this the easy way, remember? Oh yeah, chop up the carrots too.

Once the olive oil is hot, toss the greens in. Little bit of salt and pepper and saute the greens. I promise you, they shrink down. See? Here is before.

And here is after! See the difference?

Oh, hey! It’s time to check the quinoa. Why yes, I do have a Hello Kitty oven mitt. I also have a pot holder, a toaster, a waffle iron…ahem. Anyway. When the water’s all absorbed, and the quinoa’s all fluffy. Take a bite and make sure it’s tender. Isn’t it yummy?

Add the quinoa to the big pot with the greens. Throw in your left over chicken, carrots, bag of frozen vegetables, salt, pepper, rosemary and the whole carton of chicken broth. Cut the ends off your tomatoes, and toss them in. Yes, whole. Yes, with skins on. Crank that burner to high and hang out for a few minutes. Once the broth’s kind of steamy and hot, pull the tomatoes out and rinse them under cold water. Just trust me!

After you’ve rinsed the tomatoes, the skins should peel off nice and easy. This is exactly what you want. See that nice pile of skins just behind the naked tomatoes? Much much easier to do it this way than to try to peel them without this trick.

Throw those tomato harlots back into the soup. The hussies, hanging out in the kitchen with no skins! Break them up a little with your spoon or whatever. Then, slap a lid on and go do something fun for about 10 minutes. I internetted. Remember that can of beans? No? Lucky for you I did! Beans are awesome. Full of protein and fiber. Fiber is great because it helps you poop. Yay fiber! This soup is fiberiffic with the beans and quinoa and veggies. Open up that can of beans and pour it into the soup. Yes, including the bean juice. Trust me. Have I ever let you down before? Didn’t think so.

Stir those bad boys in, put the lid on, and go run away for about fifteen minutes. Internet, or do dishes, or just chillax. Just leave the soup be! I promise you that in about fifteen minutes, you will be treated to mass deliciousness, as the husbean says.

Awwwww yeah. Check out that soup. Isn’t it the yummiest thing you’ve ever seen in your life? Now put it in a bowl and eat it, preferably with some nine grain bread to dip in it. Congratulations! You’ve made yummy soup from scratch. To hell with Campbell’s! Screw you, Progresso! I can make my own damn soup, and it’s far more amazing. And I know exactly what’s in it. How’s that for awesome?