Super Yummy Vegetable Soup

This soup is one of my own personal creations. There's not a whole lot to it and I probably make it a little differently every time depending on what I have stocked in my kitchen. I made this for dinner last night for two reasons:

1. It was unseasonably cold for a South Carolinian April day.

2. I lost basketball brackets for March Madness (who knows why I participated in the first place). We decided the winner gets a free lunch from each of the losers. As I didn't want to spend any of my hard earned money on yucky fast food, I offered to cook for the winner. My boss won, and he requested some of my homemade soup.

Anyway, here's a basic outline of my recipe (and I hope this makes sense as it is the first recipe I've ever written... let me know if I left anything out!):

Ingredients

(Serves A LOT... Dinner for two, lunch for three, and then dinner for two more - you do the math.)

6-8 small red potatoes, or 1-2 Idaho potatoes, sliced into chunks

2 Tbs. olive oil

2-3 cloves garlic, minced

1 yellow summer squash, sliced

1 zucchini, sliced (perhaps my favorite veggie... I don't know)

2 carrots, sliced

1 stalk celery, diced

2 heads bok choy - leafy parts cut into small strips and set aside, the rest (the stalk?) cut up into chunks (this is not something I normally use... but I used it last night so it's included here)

1 14 oz. can chic peas / garbanzo beans, rinsed

1 14 oz. can stewed or diced tomatoes

1 cup pasta (last night I used elbows because they're Matt's fave)

1 cup frozen peas

2 1/2 quarts vegetable broth (I used about 3 big Tbs. "Better Than Bouillon" Vegetable Base and 10 cups of water)

2 tsp. basil

1 tsp. oregano

...I think that's it.

And look how beautiful all of my ingredients look!

1. Heat the olive oil in a large stock pot over medium-high heat. Add carrots, celery, "stalky" parts of bok choy, garlic, and some salt and pepper. Cook for about 7-10 minutes or until carrots start to become tender.

2. Add the vegetable broth (or in my case, water and vegetable base). Turn the heat to high. Throw in the potatoes, squash & zucchini, chic peas, tomatoes, basil and oregano. Bring to a boil.

3. Once the soup is boiling, add the pasta. Turn down the heat a bit and allow pasta to cook. Once the pasta is al dente, add the frozen peas. When the soup comes back to a boil, add the leafy parts of the bok choy. Once the bok choy is wilted, the soup is ready!

I usually serve this with some crusty bread but unfortunately I forgot to get any at the grocery store. I know this recipe makes A LOT of soup but it's a good thing. In college I would make this amount of soup for myself (and maybe a roommate or two) and it would last a week. Just today I read an article about how it saves money and energy to make more food than you need. This recipe is a prime example! And apparently, a good way to pay off lost bets.