Fast Hearty Vegetable Soup

I remembered someone posted a recipe for making your own vegetable broth by saving all vegetable scraps in a Ziploc bag and store it in the freezer. I was the one who posted my recipe for Kibbutz Israeli Vegetable Salad. The salad uses so many ingredients, that I was able to save all the scraps when I've made the salad.

I read all of my soup recipes that I have saved and most of the ingredients called for carrots, or zucchini squash which I did not have on hand. Because it has been so bitter cold in New York State, I didn't want to venture outside and drive to a corner store and buy the necessary vegetables to make one of my other recipes. So I decided to use what I had on hand.

I named my recipe, "Fast Hearty Vegetable Soup" because that's what it is, fast, hearty and a vegetable soup. I dumped all of the frozen vegetable scraps in a pasta insert which fits inside a large stock pot. I measured out 10 cups of cold water into the stock pot, and added the vegetables. By using the pasta insert, I didn't have to strain the broth to remove the vegetable scraps.

Bring the water to a hard boil, and simmer for about 15-20 minutes so the flavor of the vegetables is released. Pull out the basket and discard the vegetables scraps. I made enough soup to feed an army. If you so choose you can use less water and less ingredients, be sure to adjust the seasonings to taste. Additional spices can be added if you prefer.

Ingredients:

• vegetable broth
• 2 cans diced tomatoes
• 1 can tomato sauce
• 2 peeled diced potatoes
• 1 can green beans (drained)
• 1 can chickpeas (rinsed and drained)
• 1 can kidney beans (rinsed and drained)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons Italian Seasoning
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• pepper to taste

Directions:

Simmer soup until diced potatoes are soft and soup is heated.