Basic soup recipe

It's fall again, it's getting chilly out, which means it's time for soup! I love making soup for my family, because it enables me to sneak lots of veggies into my daughter's meal, and it's a hearty, healthy meal that stretches.

I have also found that soups are easy to make. The following recipe is based on one I found in the Prevention cookbook, and can be endlessly modified. Follow the basic recipe, but choose you own set of ingredients, and the amounts, to add to it.

Ingredients
Oil (olive, canola or other vegetable oil)
Hard veggies, chopped (such as potatoes, butternut squash, onions, celery, peppers, carrots)
Broth or stock (such as chicken, veggie, or beef), and water
Spices (such as garlic, salt, pepper, etc.)
Soft veggies, chopped (such as zuchinni, tomatoes, green beans, mushrooms)
Protein (chopped, cooked meat or poultry, beans, or tofu)
Fresh herbs

Directions
~Heat 2-3 TB of oil on medium in a large stock pot
~Chop hard veggies and add to pot, and sauté for five minutes
~Add stock or broth. I usually add two 32-oz cartons of Imagine broth (organic broths, which I can often find on sale), plus 32 oz. of water. You can vary the amount of liquid depending on the amount of soup you're making, but a good rule of thumb is 2:1 stock/broth to water.
~Add spices and bring to a boil. For spices, I often add 2 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp. black pepper, 1 TB garlic powder, and 1 TB Italian seasoning. For a spicier soup, I might exchange the Italian seasoning for 1/2 TB cumin.
~Add chopped soft veggies and simmer 10 minutes. During this time, if you plan to add meat and it's uncooked, chop and sauté your meat until brown. If you're adding tofu, you can sauté it if you wish, but it doesn't need to be cooked in advance.
~Add your protein: meat or poultry (chopped and cooked); beans (I usually add one 15-oz can of great northern beans, drained); or tofu (extra firm, drained and chopped).
~Return to boil and then turn off heat, and it's done!
~Add fresh herbs on top for garnish.

Variations:
1) Add pasta to the soup at the same time you add the soft veggies. Or cook pasta separately and add when you serve it.
2) Puree the finished soup and add 1/2 c. cream, milk or plain soymilk for a creamy soup.*

* I wrote recently about the Magic Bullet blender, which I love despite the fact that it doesn't do everything it promised. One of the things it doesn't do as indicated is puree hot soup. The top blows off from the pressure (which is dangerous). I have to let soup cool before I can puree it in the Bullet.