Joe’s Favorite Vegetable Soup

This is enough to feed a small army! During the hot summer months, make a batch, refrigerate your leftovers, and then you’ll have another meal without having to heat up your kitchen again.

I also call this recipe “De-Toxer Soup”. It is a great body cleanser if you happen to have eaten bad; as in too many carbs for a few days. It’s a pain in the neck to dice all the veggies, but, the soup cooks up fast, in about 45 minutes or less.

You are going to need a big pot.

1 can Chicken Broth (14 oz.) ‘33% less sodium’, I now use Organic Broth
1 can Pinto or Kidney Beans (15 1/2 oz.) I use pinto
1 can Organic Tomatoes (14 1/2 oz.) & 1 fresh Tomato, zap in the blender (puree)
1 cup V-8 Juice, low sodium!!!
    I no longer use the V-8, just use lots of spices
1 cup water, & add water as needed
2 Tbsp. Olive Oil (always use ‘Virgin Oil First Cold Pressed’)
Turkey Kielbasa* ‘2/3 less fat’ or you can use turkey hot dogs (diced into 1/4” to 1/2” pieces), sometimes I use Kosher Beef hot dogs

Whatever vegetables you like, I use…
1 Carrot (fresh)
Green Beans - 2 handfuls (fresh)
1 Red Bell Pepper (or any color)
2 Red Potatoes small size - To save on a few calories, skip using potato.
Broccoli - 1 bunch (fresh)
Red Cabbage 1/2 head
1 sweet potato or yam
Asparagus 1 bunch (1/2 the stems & tips)
1 Zucchini
1 Yellow Neck Squash
1 Onion small or onion bits
1 Garlic Clove or garlic powder if you must, but do try to stay with the fresh for the immune system

Spices: I bloody use every spice I can find in the kitchen, you can’t go wrong here. Basically I use Cilantro, Ground Cumin, Poultry Seasoning, a small dash of Tumeric or Curry Powder, Salt & Pepper.

If you have never worked with fresh green beans… just snap them with your hands. I break them into pretty small pieces, throwing out the end pieces.  I put the green beans in a bowl with bleach water & let them soak as I prepare to cut up the other  veggies. For bleach water, use just a drop or two of bleach in a big bowl of water. Be sure to rinse  thoroughly before adding them to the pot.

I dice all the veggies & kielbasa up pretty small. Put all the veggies in the pot, add all the liquids> chicken broth, beans & the juice from the can, stewed tomatoes, V-8, water, & olive oil. Also, add the kielbasa.

Bring to a boil, then cook on medium for 20 minutes.
After 20 minutes of cooking, add the zucchini & yellow squash (they cook up fast).

Cook for another 20 to 25 minutes. Be careful not to overcook. You don’t want soggy veggies, they should be slightly crisp. Test the soup to see if done by eating a bit of green bean & potatoes.

*Turkey Kielbasa. This is optional, you can keep it strictly vegetables & not add the kielbasa. I add it for the protein. The downside of using kielbasa, it does have MSG, especially the smoke flavor. I no longer use the kielbasa due to MSG, switched over to the kosher hot dogs.

THIS SOUP IS SUCH A HASSLE IN CUTTING ALL THE VEGGIES, BUT SO WORTH IT! WE EAT IT PRACTICALLY ONCE A WEEK, WE STILL HAVEN’T BEEN SICK THIS YEAR. FYI: I DO COOK WITH A LOT OF GARLIC ON A REGULAR BASIS AS IT IS.