Vegetable Soup

I think I might have blogged this before but it's so good (and so easy), it seemed ok to do it again.

You don't have to start with soup stock- you can but not necessary. If you do, I'd start with chicken or pork. I boiled a chicken breast in a pot of water and then took it out and chunked it up and used it in something else. The soup itself is meatless. A friend who is allergic to MSG taught me to season soups with herbs instead of bouillon cubes or canned soups. Mostly I use basil and a mix I got in France- heavy on the basil.

Pot of chicken breast water. Salt. Lots of sage, basil and the French mix.
Cut up a zucchini-like squash and tossed into the herby chicken breast water.
Cut up pepper, celery, onions, leeks, and grated carrots and potatoes and sauteed (in butter). You can skip the sauteeing- sometimes I do; my friend who showed me how to make this never sautees. The point is to fill your kettle with all the veggies it'll hold- and nearly anything is fair game. I would NOT use broccoli, cauliflower (and not too much celery- very strong flavors) or cabbage. Boil till all the veggies are cooked.
Puree it. (I add more potatoes and puree again if it's not as thick as I'd like.)
Now- I don't know if it will be kid (or husband) friendly- but I love it! Very thick and very yummy. And lo-cal.
Soup is a staple here. I'm guessing most Ukrainians eat it once a day (or so). Oh sure, not everyone likes it but most do. And we eat a lot of it...