Recipe Review: Easy Vegetable Soup

This recipe is tried and true by Yours Truly. Every time I want to “detox” (I really do hate that word, but it somewhat fits here) by losing pent-up water weight, I’ll make a batch of it and eat it for two meals a day for three days in a row. The results are quick and visible, trust me. The jeans feel different.

Easy Vegetable Soup 

8 cups mixed vegetables
1 small cabbage, chopped
4 carrots, sliced (I love cooked carrots, so I add them. You can use however many fun veggies you can think of.)
2 14.5-oz. cans diced or stewed tomatoes (diced are cut up smaller, which I prefer)
1 32-oz. box chicken broth
1 envelope Knorr Vegetable Recipe Mix
4 cups water
Ground pepper, to taste

Directions

  1. Chop up the cabbage and carrots, and put them in a stock pot, along with the frozen mixed veggies and both cans of tomatoes.
  2. Pour the chicken broth into a medium bowl or 4-cup measure. Mix in the Knorr soup envelope, and pour it over the vegetables in the stock pot. Add ground pepper and stir it all up.
  3. Cover the lot with the 4 cups of water, or enough so that the liquid covers the veggies.
  4. Bring the soup to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for a bit, so the flavors have a chance to dance together.

Makes one gallon of soup, and freezes well.

Mix the Knorr with the chicken broth.

Stir the Knorr into the chicken broth.

 

Mix it all together.

Add it to the pot and mix it all together.

 

Add water to cover.

Add water to cover, bring to boil, then simmer.

 

That's pretty and yummy.

Colorful and yummy.

Review

There’s no magic to this recipe and what it does. Put simply: it’s a lot of watery vegetables that fill you up till your next meal. That, and it’s also a great calorie bargain, at about 75 per serving, so you can chow down on it, if cabbage doesn’t bother you. The best part is that it’s absolutely savory-delicious — and that’s something, coming from a lifelong vegetable hater. In fact, I still have to force myself to eat vegetables, even in this comparatively tasty format. I wish I weren’t this way.

You would hate being me, seriously.

This recipe is “easy.” That is, minimal effort is the focus. I use frozen vegetables. It’s fast and convenient, although I have used all fresh in the past. The part I never exclude is the Knorr veggie soup mix. I have experimented with my own spices, and to me, it just never comes close to the Knorr combination. Of course, you can substitute and experiment to your delight. Hard to go wrong with vegetable soup made from chicken stock. (You can also use vegetable stock, or just plain water.)

To those concerned about the sodium content of the Knorr: while it is on the high side, the mix-to-liquid ratio is twice that of the package directions, so the greater volume reduces the sodium-per-serving by half.

Adding chunks of chicken is a fun variation, and adds some protein kick. Although it’s not something we’d eat every week, it’s a welcome change of pace around here. Highly recommended.

On the Rat-O-Meter scale of five cheeses, I give Easy Vegetable Soup:

45cheez

8 thoughts on “Recipe Review: Easy Vegetable Soup

  1. David

    Move over Gordon Ramsay there is an new Chef in town!

    We are definitely soup people, it is our comfort food! I love chunky vegetable soups; will certainly try this veggie soup out…Thanks!

    Reply
    1. Rat Fink Post author

      How I wish I could love soup as a comfort food…mine would be macaroni and cheese (heavy on the “cheese” part) and chocolate cake! lol

      You guys should definitely try this sometime. It’s about the only veggie-based dish I ever actually come close to craving. Good stuff!

      Reply
      1. David

        Now don’t get me wrong Ms Fink…I have had to make soup my comfort food over the years. Growing up in a German family with two German cooks in the house, we made eating gravy on everything an art form.
        If allowed to rear their ugly, scrumptious, delectable heads biscuits n sausage gravy would be Numero uno comfort food followed closely by dumplings/gravy and roast beast! I too have a fondness for homemade mac n cheese…5:45 am and I now feel like cooking something…I am starving! :)

        Reply
  2. Greg

    I know your aversion to vegetables is the same as mine is to fruit!! I really wish I could think of a fruit recipe to share but…..I’ve got nothing! A woman at my church recently prepared a great looking salad–greens, croutons, a bit of cheese but then completely ruined it by dumping in several cups of fresh fruit!!! I passed on the salad that day!

    Reply
    1. Rat Fink Post author

      Every time I make a fruit salad, I think of you! haha

      And I don’t go for the veg-and-fruit mix of salads, unless it’s orange Jello with pineapple and carrots. Bizarre, I know! But my sis and I were raised on the stuff.

      Am I right in remembering that there’s like one solitary fruit that you can tolerate once in a while? Is it banana? Or peach?

      Reply
  3. RD

    Hey Ms. Fink,
    Thank you for this recipe.. When I go to stay with my Mother, I need to do the cooking. I’m sure both of us will love this vegetable soup, and I think that I, even I, can make it. If not, I know whom to call. :)

    Reply
    1. Rat Fink Post author

      Oh you should definitely make it for Mom! I think she’d like it. If it’s just for the two of you, I’d halve the recipe. There’ll be plenty for your meal, and a bit for leftovers as well. And of course you know who to call. :-D

      Reply

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