The Medicinal Properties of Soup

I'm a teacher. Teachers love Pinterest. I mean love it. It's teacher crack. Really. Those of you who don't know what Pinterest is, Google it. Or Bing it. Whatever your preference.

So here I sit an a cold afternoon on what's left of my winter break, slurping soup and finger-pecking my blog post. I mention Pinterest because this soup would be a great "pin". Wish I had a pic, I would post it... Not really. I ate it so fast there was no photo op time. But the amazing properties of soup got me to thinking about you guys out there, and I wanted to share this experience with you.

I recently returned from a luxurious stay at The Franklin Arms in Hayesville, N.C. (aka Patti and Rich's house). Patti eats a macrobiotic diet, so she always has tons of vegetable stuff on hand. She had made a soup she calls "Every Vegetable in the House" soup. Deeeelicious! That's her recipe; every vegetable in the house.

Well, in our house we don't have a lot of vegetables. So I stopped by the grocery store and stocked up. See if this doesn't get your mouth watering: I started with 3 strips of lean, center cut bacon sautéed in a big pot. Then I threw in about 1/2 lb. of fresh, lean ground beef (I don't eat a macrobiotic diet, in case you hadn't noticed). As the meat browned and the aroma filled the kitchen, I tossed in half of a sweet onion roughly chopped. Oh man, did that smell heavenly. And no, I did not pour off the grease. 

After two boxes of reduced sodium chicken broth and one box of Garden Tomato Herb soup, I proceeded to add every vegetable I had: 2 cans diced tomato, 1 container fresh black eyed peas, chopped celery, chopped turnip greens, chopped fresh green beans, chopped sugar snap peas, chunked Idaho potato, chopped carrots, 1 bag of silver queen corn kernels, fresh parsley, fresh sage, thyme, & rosemary, Fresh ground pepper, sea salt, and of course Michael added cayenne to give it some zip. Aaaaahhhmmmmmmmm...

On a cold, blustery day... or when you have less than adequate insulation on an old house, soup is just what's needed. Holding the bowl warms your hands. Eating soup warms your tummy. And an added benefit? You can soak your cold feet in it.

Just kidding.

If you have some, thick slice a piece of freshly baked Italian boule. Slather it with real butter, none of that fake shit.

Now that's comfort food on a cold, winter day. 

So, use this recipe, and give yourself some comfort. Trust me. It's worth it! 

And besides, you deserve it  :-D