I’ve been eating soup everyday for lunch lately, and I decided it would be best if I just made my own.  It would be healthier and more affordable.

Can of tomatos - $1.39 (the big 28 oz can)
Two cans of beans - $1.32
Pasta - $.32
One onion - $.34 (I’m guessing on this one)
Other ingredients - $.50

Total: $3.87  Makes 7 one cup servings.  $.55 per cup.  I eat two cups for lunch of the canned soup, but I’m not sure how much I will eat of the homemade.  Perhaps less soup will fill me up more.

The Market Basket cheap soup that I’ve been buying (cause it really does taste as good as Progresso) is $1.29 a can (16 oz).  $1.10 vs $1.29 sure isn’t that big of a difference.  But I was able to package up a soup for lunch tomorrow (I’m working at macy’s), I put two tupperware things in the freezer, each containing two cups, and then another cup is left over in a bowl in the fridge for someone else to enjoy.

Vegetarian Pasta Fagioli

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium sized onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 28 oz can diced tomatoes
• 3 cups vegetable broth
• 2 (15 ounce) cans cannellini beans
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley (or 4 teaspoons dried)
• 1 teaspoon dried basil leaves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 3/4 cup ditalini pasta

1. Heat oil in a large sauce pan over medium heat until hot. Add onion and garlic and cook for 5 minutes or until onion is tender.
2. Add undrained tomatoes, undrained cannellini beans, broth, parsley, basil and pepper to pan and bring to a boil over high heat, stirring occasionally. Let boil for approximately 1 minute and then let simmer for 10 minutes, covered.
3. Add pasta to pan and simmer approximately 15 minutes or until pasta is tender. Serve immediately.

Makes seven cups of soup.

The process in pictures:

Making homemade vegetable broth!  I used one vegetable bullion cube, some carrot slices, and some onion peel, and added it to a bit over three cups of water.

Straining the broth so I would only get the liquid.  Dylan was my photographer for this shot.

Adding the spices.

Glass of wine while the soup simmers?  Don’t mind if I do!

The finished product.

And a close up.

I must admit, my mom made most of this.  I was at the gym, and she was antsy to start eating, so she found the recipe on my computer, and was already making it when I got home.

Potato and Vegetable Soup

• 2 1/2 cups water
• 2 potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1 tablespoon salt, or to taste
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 1/4 onion, chopped
• 1 cube vegetable bouillon
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 cup frozen mixed vegetables (I only used frozen green beans)
• 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of celery soup
• 1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• ground black pepper to taste

1. In a large stock pot boil potatoes in the 2.5 cups water and add salt. Cook potatoes until tender and soft and then add carrots, celery, chopped onions, vegetable of your choice, oil and bouillon. Mix together and cook until all vegetables are soft.
2. Add cream of celery soup and season with parsley, onion powder and pepper. If you desire a thinner type of soup you may want to add 1/2 cup of water.
3. Heat soup through, stirring occasionally, and serve.

Serves 6.

It was good.  I had it again for lunch today.  I added about 1/3 cup frozen peas (I sure do love vegetables!) and a little of milk too, because it had really dried up in the fridge.

I think it was too celery-y.  I didn’t really like using cream of celery soup, but that’s what it called for.  I would rather have used a flour and milk base instead.  Next time, I will probably make a regular potato soup and just add lots of vegetables.

I am very excited about the way the picture of my soup came out.  It is certainly quite the difference between the iPhone picture and the one I took and spent time on.  Here’s a comparison.

The only difference in the actual soup is that I was very carefully putting soup in the bowl.  I added more liquid to the bowl when it looked too dry, then added some noodles and stuff when it looked too wet.  I like how there is a little pile in the middle.  Then, I added some fresh parsley that we had in the fridge.  It is a little wilty, but you can hardly tell.  And it’s beautifully green!  So the real difference to the soup is the parsley.  Otherwise, I just ladeled it differently.  Then of course there’s the bowl, placemat, fancy bread (which is the same bread that we ate last night), and fancy plate from my mom’s fancy plate collection.

The amazing thing is how much better the soup looks.  Not just the picture quality, the one of the left is obviously more beautiful.  But in the picture you can see the pasta, and the sausage clearly, and it just looks more delicious.  It’s amazing what a little set up can do.

On top of all of this, it was FUN!  I had fun setting up my little scene, lighting a candle, and standing on a chair to take a picture.  My mom even joined in and said “You should add a wine glass!”    I enjoyed it.  Taking photographs of food is FUN!!!  Then, I just put the soup back in the tupperware, and re-wrapped the bread.  My dad is having them for dinner, cause he’s home alone tonight.  Then I just did my two dishes - bowl and wine glass, and I left the setting with the fancy plate and candle at the end of the table for my next creation!

It’s funny, sometimes I think “Ugh, I don’t want to think of what to make for dinner this week.”  And sometimes I’m really excited about it.  Right now I’m thinking the former.  But for tonight, I just have to prepare dinner to bring to class.  I already made my sandwich while my lunch was in the oven cooking (because that’s time management!), so now I just have to get my fruit, vegetables and yogurt ready.

I enjoy class, and look forward to going, but I wish that we had more comfortable chairs, and that I had a blanket with me.  Could I bring a blanket with me?  Yes.  Would people think it was a bit odd?  Sure, but there’s only 8 people in the class, and I think they would understand.

Sausage Minestrone soup was pretty good. It wasn’t fantastic, but it was good. It was a bit too spicy, so I’m going to cut the red pepper flakes in half, from 1/4 t to 1/8. I’m also going to add more pasta, because my dad and I felt there was too little. It was a nice dinner with Italian bread and a salad. The bread was store bought. I should look into making my own sometime, and do a soup and bread night like Megan used to do. Here is the recipe for the soup with my added changes. I think I liked the pasta e fagioli better, and that didn’t have meat in it.

Sausage Minestrone Soup

2 T Extra virgin olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 cups water
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can (10.5 oz) chicken broth
1 t dried basil leaves

1 t dried oregano leaves
1/8 t crushed red pepper
12 oz Italian turkey sausage, thoroughly browned
2/3 cup pasta – ditalini or small shells
1 (16 oz) cannellini beans, drained

Heat oil in large saucepan over med heat. Add onion and garlic cook for 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add water, tomatoes with liquid, broth, basil, oregano and crushed pepper. Bring to a boil.

Meanwhile, cut sausage crosswise into ½-inch slices. Cut each slice into quarters. Stir sausage, and pasta into soup; simmer 13 minutes or until pasta is tender. Add beans; cook until heated through.

__________

Speaking of Megan, she called me today, and we talked for a whole hour! I still miss her and I still wish that she and Mac would move home to the US. She said that Mac wouldn’t be able to get a job, but they could live near me, and he could help me run my garden and tend to the chickens! We would have our own little eco-community.

I spent a lot of time today looking at recipes to make later this week. I think I want to try a potato soup. It will be like a clam chowder, but without clams. They make a good one at Panera Bread that I enjoy. It’s the only one I’ve ever had. Monday night I have class, so I won’t be making anything. Wednesday night we’re going out to dinner with Bob and Gail for Gail’s birthday. That’s two days I don’t need to make dinner.

While talking to Megan, I mentioned to her that it seems like every single dinner they make is delicious. She is always writing on her blog about how wonderful their dinner was. I don’t understand how they can continuously cook fantastic meals. Megan explained it differently, and said that perhaps she just isn’t picky. Either way, I still find it amazing that they are able to cook meal after meal that she (and probably also Mac) find delicious. I thought the pot pie was delicious, but I don’t think that this soup was. I’d give it 3/5 stars. The pot pie gets 5/5!  Perhaps I should start rating all of my recipes like this.

I also need to get better at photographing my meals.  I should decorate my plate with fancy napkins, and decorate the food with fresh basil or parsley.  I also should not use my iPhone as my camera!  It makes the food look not-so-good.

Update (the next morning):  I tried my first hand at food photography!  I think they came out pretty damn good!  Muuuuuuch better than the iPhone.