When I make soups to freeze and  set myself and husband up for a successful meal this is one of the first soups that I love to get ready!.  As you will find out most of my soups and freezer meals are all pretty simple and side with the comfort foods. These are great and healthy and can be transformed at dinner time to a few different things if the soup you made is not quite what you want in that moment.

Lets start with the basics – how to make this soup!

***Please be careful when cutting and cooking food – please do not leave your stove unattended while it is on ! ***

You will need!

• Pot
• Cutting board
• Knife
• Peeler
• Wooden spoon ( you can use a spatula or regular spoon just be careful they do heat up)
• Bowls or container to put prep in
• Can opener

Food you will need! – You can add as much or or as little vegetables as you like but I like a hearties soup. 

•  .5 Tomato paste
• 1 Can of mixed beans ( you can use dried just make sure you leave a good amount of time to re hydrate them prior to cooking)
•  4 small Carrots
•  1 small Zucchini
•  1 White Onion
•  3 cloves Garlic
• 1 L Water
• 1 L Vegetable stock / vegetable bouillon cube / your favorite vegetable stock base mix.
•  2 sticks Celery
• 1 Stewed tomatoes (you can make your own but if you don’t want to canned /jarred works just as well)
• Salt/pepper/dried basil/turmeric
• Pasta or russet potato ( if you plan on freezing this for later – it is best to leave these separate from your soup – I tend to leave them out until the day of)

So let’s hit up step one!

Cut up all of your vegetables – start with our onions and garlic as those you will need first and you can start cooking. You want to cut all these vegetables to a Med dice or if wondering about the size so that you can fit 2-3 pieces on your soup spoon.

Heat up your pot with approx. 2 tablespoons (I use coconut oil – but olive or canola is okay too) – have your oven on about med and leave it for a minute to heat up. Then add your onion and garlic and saute until your onions are translucent then add your carrots/celery.

Add tomato paste and cook for about 2-3 min on med low heat to just cook out the tomato paste a little bit while stirring.

After this it’s time to add your water and stock base. – Then add your beans (make sure you rinse these prior to use) and stewed tomatoes. Add your seasoning spices about 1 teaspoon of each to start – remember you can always add spices to things but it is really hard to correct adding too much!

Stir everything together quite well and then add your zucchini and turn your stove if on low up to med.

You are going to want to let this to simmer and mingle together for approx. 10 – 15 min. I plan on freezing mine so I go by 10 min so that when I re heat my vegetables do not become mushy.

Taste your soup and see if you need any more seasoning. Add the seasoning and stir well then taste.

Ladle the soup into the desired container to freeze in and make sure you leave at least ½ – 1 inch to allow the soup to expand when it freezes.

When you are ready to eat this – you can either have pasta or potatoes it’s really up to you what you like or neither – you can use your favorite pasta cook it and once cooked either use as is if small or cut up it depends on how you feel. Put the noodles into your bowl and pour the hot soup on top!

Now if you like the potato route you can cut / peel your potatoes into the same size as your vegetables and then cook in a pot with water (the water should just cover the potatoes)

Cook until they just slide off a fork or knife tip and then do the same as the pasta.

If you decide that you need a little protein you can bake some chicken /sausage/pork….– chop it up small and toss it in with your soup.  I tend to leave mine veggie until I am ready to eat it because I never know who might come over for dinner.

I hope you all enjoy and if you have any questions please comment and I will try and answer what I can!

Please remember cooking is meant to be fun but please be safe and food safe smart.  Once your soup is finished bring it to room temperature or colder as fast as possible before putting it in your fridge or freezer(hot food will bring up the temperature in your fridge and can cause food to be in an unsafe temperature). You can do this by making an ice bath ( roasting pans or clean sinks work well) and setting your soup in its container or pot into it and stirring regularly until cool.

When re heating your soup bring it to a full boil prior to eating !

Thank you !