Soup and Bread on a Rainy Day!

Today it rained, and rained, and rained! It was exciting to finally wear my new rain boots! To romp through puddles! To hear the pitter-patter on the roof all day! ...It made me wish I was home reading a book, snuggling by the fireplace with Ló... with fresh, hot soup and bread cooking in the kitchen!

After work I swung by the store and bought what I needed for Bowtie Veggie Soup:

- Potatoes

- Carrots

- Broth
...

At the time I was thinking it'd be a good idea to double the batch. So I bought double of everything.

When I got home I decided not to double it, so I began cooking while talking to my hubby about how our days went...

Before I knew it the soup was done. The house smelled wonderful! The fragrance of garlic, onions, oregano, red peppers, and bay leaves filled the air! I couldn't wait to pour some into a bowl and eat it with hot bread! ...But ...Something wasn't quite right ...I'd made this recipe a few times before and I remembered it being thicker... I double and triple checked the serving size on the broth containers. They were absolutely spot on. I checked the recipe math in my head and it added up each time: 8 cups of broth. That's exactly what I'd added. So why was it so watery???

That's when I realized what had happened! When I had decided not to double the batch I had put all the extra ingredients away except for the broth! So when it came time to add the broth I didn't think twice and I'd added it all!!!

Call me a space cadet, but let's all be honest that we've all had those half-minded moments where we're not fully paying attention to what we're doing. Or we're too focused on certain details so we overlook the others. Or we get cocky and think that we don't need to fully read the instructions because it's a recipe that we've made several times before. I've been guilty of each of them. And this time it was the perfect storm because I was guilty of them all at once!

What to do???

I decided to get the rest of the ingredients back out to complete the double batch. It took a good amount of extra time because I wanted to make it right. I didn't want to just throw the ingredients in. I wanted it to taste as good as I'd been imagining all day... So, I browned the onions and garlic in the butter... added the sauce and spices... and finally added it to the original batch.

I must say, I really hit a home run with this soup! It was both hearty and flavorful! It was definitely worth taking the extra time to fix my mistake. It turned out exactly as I had hoped it would. The flavors of the veggies and spices stood out without being overpowering, the red pepper added a little kick, and the bow ties added a bit of elegance. We each enjoyed a bowlful with a slice of homemade wheat toast--as in, the bread was homemade too!

It was the perfect meal for a rainy day!

Click here to view recipe!

Preparing the toast!

This week's bread: 100% Whole Wheat with Chia Seeds!

Tip: I recommend an onion chopper. They make chopping onions a cinch! The one I have comes apart for easy cleaning too!

Tip: I recommend using minced garlic from a jar. It has a decent fridge-life and tastes really good. It also makes life easier because it's pre-minced.

Bubbling Soup!

Yum!

After dinner we divided the soup into two containers that each held 7 cups. We put one in the fridge for this week and one in the freezer for the future. 

I added green beans to the one for this week.

I got this recipe from Quick Fix Vegetarian by: Robin Robertson, and then adjusted the ingredients and instructions according to my preferences. I highly recommend that book because it has a lot of great vegetarian soups, including a recipe for homemade veggie broth! I like to make my own broth using the recipe from that book, but with it being the middle of the week I just used store-bought broth this time. The homemade broth from that book is fabulous because it is easy to make, tastes delicious, and yields enough to make plenty of soups! Whenever I make it I think about what soups I want to use it for and I package it in various smaller containers that hold those exact amounts. I store them in the freezer, and even label them so I can remember which one goes to which soup. Later down the road when I am making those soups I don't even have to measure the broth, I just heat it up and am good to go!