Hearty Vegetable Soup with THRIVE

It was a much cooler day today in Washington!  I always love that :).  One of the menu items I had on my list -- and which I still had sufficient ingredients for, thanks to my THRIVE home store -- was vegetable soup.  I know, I know... It is kind of crazy for me to plan for eating soup in the summer months...  But I love soups, and so does my toddler.  And it's a great way for me to get a lot of veggies.  So I pretty much like to make soup year-round... I just make it less frequently in the summer :).

Anyway, I knew I wanted to make a vegetable soup.  I usually do one with a clear broth, but thought I wanted to change it up, since I would be adding peas and green beans.  I just felt like they do better in a "red" soup.  So I sought one out online.  And I came up with this recipe as my jumping-off point.

So here is how I did it:

2 medium carrots, peeled and sliced*
1/2 cup chopped onion*
1/2 cup THRIVE celery
1 small green pepper, chopped*
1 clove garlic, pressed
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
1 can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
4 cups water
1 can V8 juice
1/2 cup frozen corn*
1/2 cup THRIVE green peas
1/2 cup THRIVE asparagus
1/2 cup THRIVE green beans
1 chicken bouillon cube*
1 bay leaf
salt, pepper, parsley flakes, thyme, and basil to taste

In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat oil over medium heat.  Add carrots, onion, and green pepper and saute until tender, about 8 minutes.  Add minced garlic and stir.  Add water, V8, kidney beans, bouillon cube, THRIVE green peas, THRIVE asparagus, THRIVE green beans, and THRIVE celery and stir.  Add seasonings.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to simmering; cover and cook 1 hour.

*Denotes ingredients also available through THRIVE.

This recipe definitely helped me get my vegetables for the day!  And it was quick and easy!  Total time making this was 25 minutes, tops.  It could have been less, and will be in the future, once I add green pepper, carrots, and onion to my home store with THRIVE!  I think I could cut the prep time down to 15 minutes!  And that's just awesome!