do you want a quick and easy meal? maybe you have some veggies starting to turn in your fridge? are you feeding a large crowd? need a cost effective meal to hold you over? do you like soup????
if any or all of these are true, read on!! im gonna teach you how to make Whatever Soup!!
Whatever Soup is called that bc its made of Whatever you have in your fridge or pantry. this has become a staple in my household bc you can make it while you're basically brain dead.
the only things i personally insist on having in my pantry as the base for Whatever Soup are tomato paste, some kind of canned beans (black beans and chickpeas are what i use most frequently), and spices (we'll get to that shortly) and also my crock pot (you can use a soup pot on the stove tho)
some other things that are nice to have: bouillon or stock, salt n pepper, garlic, cheese
the base for your soup is tomato paste and water or stock!! this is gonna be a very veggie heavy soup. i use one 6 oz can of tomato paste for like a giant batch of soup but ymmv.
before adding *all* the stock or water, start chopping your veggies!! almost nothing is off the table if it's still edible!! floppy celery? throw it in! carrots starting to dry out?? chop em up!! ground turkey thats been thawing? we'll make a meatball!! things ive included in last Whatever Soups are zucchini, onion, carrots, celery, potatoes, broccoli, cabbage, peppers... the sky is truly the limit. we'll talk about when to throw each thing into the pot in a minute.
there's two flavor profiles that go well with Whatever Soup; italian seasoning and mexican seasoning. id recommend figuring out what you need to get rid of first and then picking your spice options. peppers, onions, corn, and garlic would make a banging mexican style Whatever Soup but add some cabbage in there and it'll get pretty weird. i almost always go for italian style bc i feel like the seasonings are more versatile but you do you
if you are kitchen-challenged, then you only need TWO THINGS: italian seasoning in a bottle from the grocery store, and taco seasoning in a bottle from the grocery store. if you're more well versed in the kitchen or want to try branching out, try your hand at using oregano, parsley, onion salt or garlic salt, bay leaves, thyme, chili powder, ground ginger, cumin, lemon pepper, or just about anything else. give it the sniff test. if it smells good, throw it in. sometimes i even put half a beer or some cinnamon in. i also have some shawarma seasoning that absolutely fucking bangs in Whatever Soup
youve got your tomato paste and your stock or water, toss in a bouillon cube or 3 and let it start to come up to temp. if you're using canned beans like me, you'll either want to dump the whole can in at this point (if you want a thick and filling soup) or drain and rinse your beans. whichever you pick, toss em in now. any other canned veggies can go in now as well. at this point you'll have also looked at all the vegetables you need to use up and guestimate how much water you need. you can always add more later so start with a little at a time. a good rule of thumb is to have enough broth to cover all the solid foods in your soup, plus maybe another inch. this will help it cook more uniformly too.
next i always throw in my carrots, onion, and celery if ive got em. throw the whole top of the celery in too, the leaves have a lot of flavor. your really crunchy veggies like broccoli can also go in now. anything thats more "fragile" like squash or zucchini can go in closer to the end, once these guys are softer.
the timing is kind of up to you. if you like softer veggies in your soup, plan for a longer cook time. if you need to eat in the next 40 min, dump it all in at once and crank that sucker up. there is no science here. we're making art.
now you have your base, all your veggies, and your basic spices. i like to keep seasoning as i go, tasting it here and there and adding more salt or garlic or whatever. remember, you can always add more seasoning (even after its done) but you can never add less. be conservative at first until you figure out what you like.
if you're going to add potatoes, do those at the very last 15-30 min or they'll get soft and fall apart in the soup. if you want to add any kind of pasta noodles, cook those separately and add them in as you eat, or they'll get really soft and mushy when you put away your leftovers. i also sometimes will boil my broccoli separately and then giving it a quick ice bath (this is called blanching) if i have time and energy bc it gets rid of some of the bitterness. if you're really confused about your ingredients and worse comes to worse, just do a quick google "how to cook [insert veggie here] for soup" to get some good tips. if you have meat you wanna use, like deli ham or chopped grilled chicken, throw it in and let it come up to temp too. make sure your spices will go okay with what you're throwing in tho. tonight i pan fried some turkey meatballs while my veggums were cooking and i used very little seasoning bc i knew that the broth would flavor them.
now you can walk away from your pot a bit and go watch tv.
guess what you're done!!!! once your crock pot has sat for a while and all your veggies get softer, thats your Whatever Soup right there. serve it with your noodles you made on the side, some melted cheese on top, a dollop of sour cream, or scoop it up with some tortilla chips. that is your meal. you made it. and now you have a giant pot of it so remember AFTER IT COOLS (!!!) to freeze half and refrigerate half. so the next time you need a hearty homemade meal you can thaw some out and throw it in the microwave.
sometimes if you use less water and more veggies it comes out like a veggie stew. guess what its basically the same. you can add more water or stock when you serve it if you want or you can enjoy it lumpy bumpy and delicious with no extra broth.
cooking doesnt have to be hard!! its a lot of chopping so i make my friends chat with me or i throw on an audiobook. but after that you're golden and it'll last you plenty of meals.
good luck, i love you, leave any questions in the replies, and tell me all about the Whatever Soups you make :]
