A pot of soup is a simple prayer of gratitude. Often, soup is the practical answer to the question of what to fix for supper. Especially true on those days I can’t face the supermarket check-out lines. Putting together a pot of tasty soup, brimming with an array of vegetables, all swimming in rich, savory broth gives me peace on many levels. I'm providing healthy nourishment for my family, and I'm not throwing food away when so many are hungry.   

Digging the big soup pot out from its hiding place behind the slow cooker is the most difficult part of soup making. The variety will depend on the contents of the cupboard, the freezer, and the bites I saved in little opaque storage containers. I use the slightly wilted leek from the crisper drawer, the once crisp carrots, the last stalk of celery and two ribs of a green pepper. The remnants of the abundance I bought at the farmer’s market. 

Using leftovers and pantry staples, means every soup is a new creation. Some combinations are definitely better than others. My soup becomes gumbo if I add okra, a savory potage if I sprinkle in cayenne pepper to perk up flavors. All are tasty and fill empty bowls and bellies. Good soup is like fine wine; agreeable and unique.

The major grocery store soup players have bamboozled us into believing that making soup is a time consuming lost art. Don’t believe it. You can make tasty, nutritious soup in less than an hour with what you have on hand. Imagination is a key ingredient of soup du jour.

The song begins with rich stock. I could pull down a cookbook and make the broth from scratch.  When I don’t have the time or enough energy for that kind of exercise,  low-sodium bouillon cubes are magic.

I start with a little oil, and sauté diced onions until they wilt. Sometimes the onions are frozen; sometimes I chop up a whole one. I add a little garlic, minced by me or out of a jar.  A little garlic powder works. The onions are critical to my soup, but the garlic isn’t. I add water and chicken or beef bouillon cubes to the pot, one for every cup of water. I let the broth simmer delicately while I raid the refrigerator and the pantry.  

If I’m making a beef soup I might add the drippings from last Sunday’s roast or the dab of leftover gravy. No gravy, no drippings?  I’ll add an extra bouillon cube or two to the stockpot. 

Add vegetables that take the longest to cook first. Potatoes cut into smallish chunks, peeled or not. Carrots sliced into orange coins. Simmer, always gently, until tender. Then it’s time for last Tuesdays’ green beans, and the last of the frozen peas, perhaps some corn. I add canned tomatoes, diced, whole, crushed, with seasonings or without. I don’t add broccoli or cauliflower as they tend to overwhelm the flavors. Cooked rice, or cooked noodles in place of the potatoes work nicely.

I only want one starch in my soup; but you might like more than one. It’s your soup to conjure up.

Uncooked noodles or rice will absorb a lot of liquid if added to the broth. Soupy soup could be transformed into thick stew. Cook’s choice.

Add the meat just long enough to heat it through. Taste for seasoning. Tell the kids to wash for supper.

Bake some biscuits, or warm some rolls. Perhaps butter stale bread, sprinkle it with grated cheese and run it under the broiler until the cheese melts. Voila, cheese toast.  

There is no substitute for a bowl of steamy chicken rice soup as I wait impatiently for spring. Soup for lunch is perfect on the sunny March morning after I’ve seen the first robin, or the green daffodil shoots break through the snow in that sunny spot near the downspout.

Cold days and colder nights, ice, snow, sleet and hail beg for something to warm my core and sooth my soul, and nothing satisfies like soup.  

Soup resets my internal thermostat on a hot summer’s day, too. Cherry soup is as creamy and sweet, decadent as any rich dessert. Berry soup is similar. I use the freshest, ripest strawberries of spring.  Spicy, icy gazpacho made with summer’s juiciest tomatoes and crispest cucumbers is an easy meal.  I make it in the blender and finish it off with dollop of sour cream and a few croutons.  The kitchen and I both stay cool.

Soup making is easy, quick, healthy, cheap and gratifying. Best of all, it tastes better than anything from a can, box, or freezer. Bon appétit!

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