Quick Meals for Working Moms - Thrown Together Vegetable Soup

Vegetable Soup with homemade Cornbread

This dish was literally thrown together at the last minute.  But it turned out to be hit with the family!  I was planning on making a potato and vegetable chowder with a milk and chicken broth base.  But as I opened the refrigerator, I discovered I was out of chicken broth - oops!  I could have used water to replace the broth, but the flavor would have been lacking.  I did have a bottle of vegetable juice (love, love Trader Joe's Garden Patch vegetable juice) hanging out in the back of the fridge.  From there, it was just a matter of throwing in some odds and ends and hoping for the best.

I sauted diced onions in olive oil, then added some peeled and diced potatoes and sliced carrots.  Looking in the freezer, I found some partially used bags of frozen organic sweet peas and organic sweet corn - threw those in.  Then I added the vegetable juice and tossed in some ditalini pasta from the pantry.  I seasoned the soup with basil, oregano, bay leaves and black pepper.  Then I let it simmer on the stove until the carrots and potatoes were done. 

Dave, the kids and my Momma loved it!  And I found it to be a great way to use up those partial bags of frozen vegetables and pasta.

Mary Ellen