Birthday Soup

Can you believe this is what we woke up to this morning? Here it is April 23, and snow! It also snowed on my birthday, April 18. In between the two snow days we had 70 degrees. Oh my, Kansas. So on my birthday, I made a big pot of soup with what I had on hand in the refrigerator and pantry. I'll share my recipe and then you can adapt it to what you have in your cupboards.

 Birthday Soup

1 onion

2 bell peppers (mine were red and yellow)

1 Anaheim pepper

2 carrots

2 ribs of celery

3 cloves of garlic

1/2 cup of chopped cilantro

1 cup of fresh spinach

thyme

oregano

1 cup whole wheat pasta

chicken stock or chicken bullion (I prefer Better Than Bullion)

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

1. Roughly chop the onion, peppers, carrots, celery and garlic. Saute over medium-high heat in a couple of tablespoons of oil until tender and slightly browned. 

2. Add 8 cups of water or 8 cups of stock, cilantro, and bullion (if not using stock) to taste.

3. Bring to a boil and add pasta, oregano and thyme.

4. Lower heat and simmer until the pasta is cooked through and the vegetables are tender. (Check the carrots.)

5. Place a small patch at a time in your food processor and give it a whirl. You want it cut to small pieces but not pureed. Try to avoid some of the pasta so that you still have whole pasta in the soup.

6. Place all the soup back in the pot and add spinach. Heat just until wilted. 

7. Stir in the parmesan cheese and enjoy!

Love,

xoxo