Vegetable Soup {Wednesday in the Kitchen}

Our weather here in our little mountain town has been unpredictable to say the least. One day we have a nice none windy in the 40's ... yes it's the absence of windchill that makes this a nice day. The past couple weeks however we have had extreme windchill! Last Tuesday the windchill was -23 degrees. Now to some of you that may not seem too bad but it is unusual for our neck of the woods. And today it is 18 degrees so far but feels like 1 degree! You do the math.

To make matters worse The Husband is pursuing a second degree and to save on a parking permit rides to work with me in the morning and then walks home after class ... yes even in the -23 degree wind. So how do you warm up your dedicated Husband after such a chilly walk. You have some yummy vegetable soup ready for him to heat up when he gets home for a nice steamy lunch. And if you aren't working you'd be there in your supper cute apron with it all heated up and ready to eat when he walked in the door ... sadly ... for now I'm not able to do this.

So how do you make this wonderfully warm and delicious, perfect for a freezing winter day Vegetable Soup?

1. You take your favorite fresh veggies (I used red potatoes, carrots and yellow squash) chop them up into small, equal sized pieces. 
2. Put your fresh veggies into a good sized stock pot and cover them with 1 can Campbell's Tomato Soup and 1 can vegetable broth (this will give you a nice rich flavor) and add a pinch of salt and pepper
3. Let the soup come to a boil and reduce the heat to simmer.
4. After reducing the heat to a simmer add in any frozen veggies you want to include in your soup ( we like green beans and bell pepper) and another pinch of salt and pepper
5. Let the soup come back up to a simmer for a few minutes and then add any dried spices you like to add some additional flavor to the soup. I add a pinch of red pepper flakes for some kick, 1/4 teaspoon of dried oregano, 1/4 teaspoon of dried basil, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 - 1 1/2 teaspoons onion power and a pinch of sage. 
6. Let the soup simmer until all the veggies are tender about 30 more minutes (the longer you let the soup simmer the more the flavors will marry together and become yummy ... just be careful not to let your veggies become too mushy)
7. In the last minute before you take the soup off the stove add in some fresh chopped flat leaf Italian parsley about and handful.
8. Enjoy!

The trick when making this soup to create lots of flavor is to cook all the vegetables in the broth of the soup, adding the herbs and spices in layers (multiple additions throughout the cooking process) ... and remembering to add the fresh herbs right as you are taking the soup off the stove (to keep their fresh taste).