Sitting with others eating lunch always intrigues me. What are they eating? Do they have any great recipes?

A great friend of mine is a vegetarian and always brings in such inspiring and creative lunches to work. Last week she made her own vegetable soup, which permeated the entire room, and shortly thereafter my mind was made up. I was going to make homemade garden vegetable soup.

I never used to be so obsessed with soup until I entered adulthood and realized soup is the perfect lunch, perfect dinner, and overall perfect fall/winter comfort food. The best part about this soup is it is amazingly healthy and very affordable (this will cost you around 15 dollars for 8 servings).

I doubled my own recipe so I had enough soup to carry me through the week, but this recipe will make about 8 large servings.

For this garden vegetable soup you will need 2 (4 cup containers) low sodium vegetable broth, a 24 oz can of petite diced tomatoes, 1 can drained black beans, 1 container sliced button mushrooms, 1 yellow onion diced, 2 tbsp olive oil, 1 tsp dried thyme, 1 bag frozen mixed vegetables, 3 small yellow potatoes diced, and a sprinkle of chili flakes (optional).

I like to begin by using the cast iron soup pot to sweat all my vegetables down and bring out flavor. I begin by placing some olive oil in a pot and sweating down my onion and mushrooms with a heavy hand of salt and the dried thyme for about 5 minutes or until they become soft. Next, I add in my diced tomatoes and broth and bring to a low boil.

Once the soup begins boiling, I add the potatoes and cook for about 15 minutes. The smaller your potato chunks are, the shorter the cooking time! Next, add your frozen veggies and black beans, and whatever other vegetables you prefer!

You could absolutely do an italian spin on this and add garlic, oregano and basil to your soup mixture. I, myself, added some chili flakes for heat. Please, do not forget to season as you go along and taste throughout the cooking process.

I absolutely love this soup because it fills you up without weighing you down. Feel free to email me with your favorite recipes at cmh08343@gmail.

com. Have a happy and safe weekend.