Tis The Season (For Soup)

It's borderline FREEZING around here (my toes are on the verge of hypothermia, I'm just sure of it...), and of course we're on the "economically-friendly" heating plan in this house. Which means we walk around bundled in multiple layers, sporting big bulky socks and sweaters, and practically watch our breath puff out with every word we utter. Then we wait for the house to drop to 60 degrees, at which point the heater kicks in and begins defrosting little fingers and toes. So, it's not surprising that lately all I can think about is soup. And if my family would let me, I'd make a wide variety of soups all week long. But they keep insisting I focus on other foods, like breakfast and lunch, too. Luckily for me, we've got some big rain storms approaching in our forecast, so it seems appropriate to be in this soup phase. And I feel like I'm doing my family a huge favor by serving them up big steaming bowls of soup.

I thought I'd share one of my favorite and easiest go-to soup recipes-- it's incredibly delicious and easy on the pocket book, too (which is why I named it what I did)! Usually I'm not a huge fan of using canned foods because I love, prefer & encourage using fresh ingredients, but this soup is perfect for a long busy day because it can be ready as quickly as 10 minutes. And since it's paired with fresh garlic and fresh basil, you would never guess it wasn't all prepared from scratch. (Wow, that sounded dangerously close to something that goon from the Food Network, Sandra Lee, would say....)

*Fun variations: try throwing in some Italian sausage in there, or mini raviolis or tortellini. Or some sort of whole grain, such as barley. I also like to add sliced zucchini or green beans. Bottom line: use this recipe as your base, and then throw in whatever the heck sounds good to you. 

"Poor Woman Soup"

Ingredients:
1 can whole plum tomatoes (with basil, if possible- T.J.'s sells it)
1 can diced tomatoes
2 cans Cannellini beans (white Italian kidney beans)
1 large onion, chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 cup fresh basil, chopped
1 cup parmesan
3 T. olive oil
1 carton low-sodium chicken or vegetable stock (about 4 cups)
1 loaf stale bread, cubed
Salt & pepper, to taste

Directions:
In a large pot, add olive oil and saute garlic and onions. Add both cans of tomatoes and stir to combine. Add chicken (or vegetable) stock. When soup comes to a slow simmer, add cubed bread and cannellini beans and half of the chopped basil. Season to taste with salt & pepper. When serving soup, top with other half of the chopped basil, parmesan cheese and shot of olive oil on top.

Happy Soup!