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## <center> I wanted to share the process of making my homemade soup with you guys!</center>

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A lovely friend of mine offered to get groceries delivered to me because she knows I am struggling and that it can be hard for me to get around. I accted and she had me fill up a cart on my local grocery delivery site and had it delivered to me today. There is so much food. I took pics of it all but I don't really want it to be the featured pic for my blog. But just trust me, it was tons of fresh veggies. By the way the friend has an account here and is going to be blogging more soon. Her username is @meowmeow. I am incredibly touched and it made my day, week, month....or...even my year? Now the "Friends" song is stuck in my head. -_-

## I am really annoyed that the final photo of the soup just would NOT turn out so I want the featured photo to be this photo of the process. hehe.

http://i.imgur.com/XR7q0IG.jpg

and I will walk you through the process of making it. :) and post the final soup photo I am displeased with at the end. 

## What you need: 

* ### Random veggie scraps you have been saving. (or store bought broth)
* ### Whatever vegetables you have on hand.
* ### Whatever seasonings you like. I recommend fresh garlic, some fresh herbs like basil, some extra virgin olive oil.
* ### Protein source. I added tips for adding extra protein at the end. 

Sadly I had to use powdered seasoning because I didnt think to get garlic and herbs. I really wish I were in a position to have an herb garden. But it still turned out wonderful because of the homemade broth and fresh veggies and I really like the seasoning mix I used. It has dehydrated veggie chunks and all sortsa good spices. :) 

## So! Let's get cooking. Get all those veggie scraps you been saving or use your store bought broth if in a pinch.

http://i.imgur.com/9UOiI2h.jpg

Hopefully yours are less frostbitten than mine. I need a better system than random grocery shopping bags. (we also use them for garbage bags instead of buying garbage bags and I need em for kitty scooping. That's why I don't only use totes.) 

I was experimental with my broth this time...or lazy. I added lemon rinds, by the way remove the white pulp or itll be bitter. I didn't and had to mess with my broth to compensate which I'll explain later. There's also cucumber and lettuce in there? XD What? I just like to feel like I am not wasting any bits. :) It's such a small amount itll be indecipherable. 

## Now let that boil for awhile lower it to medium and just chill for quite a bit.

Let it get really flavorful, darker color. I like to mush around the veggies and mix em up. 

## I also added my seasoning, about a tsp or so of olive oil, and salt. 

http://i.imgur.com/xkwmlSl.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/OyznoIu.jpg

## When it was ready I strained it using the lid into another large pot leaving out all the chunks.

http://i.imgur.com/DCyl2f6.jpg

The broth I was left with was bitter because of the lemon thing so I added just a few tsps of sugar, liquid smoke, and a bit more seasonings to balance it out. Oh, also I added paprika! So yeah, remove the white pulp bits on your lemons, kids. 

## The first thing I did to start my soup was chop up two large russet potatoes after scrubbing them.

I like to chop em really big for soup which is really more like a stew? I usually have a stewy soup that I call stewp. So you can chop em however you prefer. I would usually add less tato when dieting but my roommate/buddy LOVES them and he's eating this soup after work so I want to add extra for him. ^_^ 

http://i.imgur.com/gaspqTR.jpg

## I put them aside in a bowl and added baby carrots.

http://i.imgur.com/ovHTCVX.jpg

## Then I cut up some celery being sure to set aside scraps for my next broth. ;) 
<br>
Take note of that step you store-bought brothers. You will never go back after making your own! :D 

http://i.imgur.com/w7IYAci.jpg

## aaaand some blurry peppers!

http://i.imgur.com/CM7ILB8.jpg

## Then I added some mushrooms to the mix!

http://i.imgur.com/7ra597y.jpg

## and invited some chickpeas to the party!!! :D 

http://i.imgur.com/XR7q0IG.jpg

## Added the bowl of veggies to the broths:

which involved burning myself and dropping a veggie on the floor, rinsing it, and adding it back to the soup. If I am using a crock pot I will add different veggies at different times depending on how long they take to cook but in a pot it hardly seems to matter. :) 

http://i.imgur.com/4j8vZly.jpg

## And decided it needed baby spinach:

would have added kale but since I had the bitter issue I decided against it. 

http://i.imgur.com/YqRxgrC.jpg

## Then realized I had frozen green beans so added them in there.

making them the only non-fresh veggie but we don't discriminate. 

http://i.imgur.com/d57N6Rm.jpg

## Then I got it to a boil, reduced heat to medium, and covered it and waited....

and eventually had soup!!! That takes great but doesn't show up well on camera! 

http://i.imgur.com/KTLb3g8.jpg

It's okay soup I don't look well on camera either. It is what's on the inside that really counts and your insides are scrumptious. 

Someone commented on the lack of protein in this and it is definitely not a protein dense recipe but that is just because I personally protein blasted my breakfast so I didn't need a lot. If you want to add vegan protein you can add more beans, or even lentils, red beans would be good. Or saute some tofu and add it. Or Seitan. Also, if you aren't opposed to fake meats there are some great ones out there. Tofurkey make a slow roasted chik'n that is pre cooked so you can just throw it in last minute. There are chicken strips I love by beyond meat. I am mostly doing fresh foods for now but also use soy until I can get more non soy sources that don't trigger my IBS like hemp hearts and nutritional yeast. (those are complete proteins) Nutritional yeast may even taste good in this soup!! :) 

I hope you enjoyed my sharing. Now that I am not drinking and focusing on losing weight for my health I will probably share tons of my vegan recipes. Cooking has always been a passion of mine. The recipes will happen to be low acid because I have interstitial cystitis so if you have bladder issues or GERD or something, you can find some recipes from me. :) 

### Oh, oh, oh! I have to count calories and this whole pot was 945. My serving is about 1/6th of the pot MAX and really I am not eating most of the tatoes which make up the main calories. So yeah, this cup I had was like 157 calories at most. 

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