I am the queen of sales, BOGO (buy one get one free), coupons ... I'm an all around frugal gal. While being thrifty is not a bad thing, especially with a family to take care of, I can go overboard with veggies when they are on sale because let's face it, buying fresh produce is not cheap.
That's when I make "Mama Doesn't Waste Vegetables" soup. I literally pile up all of the vegetables on my counter and prepare them for soup. The fun part is that the soup is different every time I make it because you never know what veggies are in the fridge.
This is what I have today.
I wash the veggies, cut them up, and then saute them in olive oil for a few minutes.
I normally make my soup with homemade broth but today I am using a store bought broth because guess what? I had a great coupon for them & I have 3 boxes in my pantry. Let's do this.
The only helpful thing Heath does in the kitchen is help himself to the food. I don't complain because I have a 2-year-old chomping & enjoying raw veggies, yay!
Finally, I add the delicious smellin' veggies into the slow cooker, along with the broth, pepper, and some parsley to taste. I let the soup cook for 6-8 hours on the low setting. Usually on the last hour I will add more broth if need be. We like our soup chunky though.
If I still have vegetables left over then I use them for homemade vegetable broth. It is a simple process! While my stock pot is heating up with a little olive oil, I wash and chop the veggies I am going to use. I toss them into the stock pot to saute and if I have some cloves of garlic on hand, I add a few, too. Basil, pepper, rosemary, and thyme are great to include in the broth mixture. After a few minutes, I add 8-9 cups of water, bring everything to a boil, and then let it simmer for an hour.
I strain the broth into plastic containers to keep in my fridge for the next week and I also add some of the homemade broth into ice cube trays to freeze. These come in handy and will stay good in the freezer for around 2 months.
