The King of Vegetable Soups.

The major labor of the day was in the making of one HUGE batch of soup. I'm serious about the size of this batch since it filled two stock pots and one smaller cooking pot. We went shopping this morning for all the ingredients, which I will list below.

2 red potatoes
4 Yukon Gold potatoes
2 turnips
1 red bell pepper
1 yellow bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
1 orange bell pepper
1 cabbage
1 bunch of kale
6 tomatoes
4 tomatilos
1 large leek
2 yellow onions
1 red onion
1 bunch of celery
1 portobello mushroom
3 white mushrooms
8 shitake mushrooms
12 brussell sprouts
2 yellow summer squash
3 small zucchini
7 carrots
2 oz. fresh basil
1/3 cup fresh parsley

This all had to have a base, of course, which was a vegetarian version of chicken boullion. It makes a freaking delicious soup- and now the plan is the keep most of it in smaller containers in the freezer to pull out regularly for quite some time. (I'm supposed to make nonstarchy vegetables 1/2 of my diet.) Before I met Paul, I had never tried several of these vegetables and some of them are new as of today. Before today, I had never tried tomatilos and both of us had never had kale before. I recommend kale if you want an alternative to lettuce every now and then. It smells vaguely minty but it doesn't taste that way at all. It's kind of like lettuce with a bit more flavor.... difficult to describe but worthwhile to try.

Oh, if you want to make this soup, it's delicious with various combinations of whichever vegetables you happen to like. Pick and choose between the ones above, although I have to say potatoes are a must. The flavor is just not quite right without them. Anything else can be in whatever quantity you desire and feel free to not include any of the above as well. The important thing is just to find ways to get more vegetables in your diet- it will always make you feel like such a healthy person!