Pamela Chan, Contributor

The idea of making home made soup sounds grand but somehow I never seem to get around to doing it.  Buying specially made, bistro quality soup is also an expensive proposition.  The last time I made soup, I put a lot of effort into preparing the vegetables but wasn’t too enthused about the end result. I’ll keep trying out new recipes but until then I like the idea that my mother-in-law shared with me about an easy “sort of” homemade soup.  Or should I say a homemade soup short cut.

Ingredients

  • 1 can of minestrone soup. (Preferably a company that uses good quality ingredients and only lists recognizable food names on the label.  I’m using Amy’s minestrone soup, the one I used contains 398 ml of soup)
  • 1 cup of water
  • 1 mounded 1/2 cup of large, diced broccoli stems
  • 1 mounded 1/2 cup of large, diced celery pieces

Optional:

  • Additional herbs to add more flavour as the extra cup of water will weaken the original balance of flavouring in the tin of soup. I used dill.
  • 1 teaspoon olive oil

My mother-in-law provided me with the tin of soup, diced, organic veggies and instructions to give the soup a try.  I tried it that night – it was quick and oh so easy.

Instructions

Add the cup of water and diced broccoli stems into a pot.  Bring to a boil and then reduce to medium for two minutes.  Add in the celery and continue cooking a further 3 minutes or until the broccoli stems are softened.  Cooking time may vary depending on what type of stove top you have.

Add in the minestrone soup and heat until it is ready to serve.  The soup I used features vegan and organic ingredients including tomatoes, onions, carrots, kidney beans, potatoes, celery, green beans and leek.

Drizzle one teaspoon of olive oil into the soup.

Serve while convincing your children that instead of alphabet noodles they will get curly, chunky pasta noodles. “No, there’s nothing weird in it.  Nothing you haven’t eaten before. Carrots… broccoli…. celery….”

Enjoy!