We are on week 2 of the newly implemented weekly menu/grocery shopping/prep plan. So far, so good. Compared to last month’s figures, I’ve already saved over $200.00 in food cost. I’ve thrown out less food than I have in the past, and I’ve actually used up almost every single vegetable I had in the house. I’ve got a few tomatoes, 1 cucumber, 1 green pepper, 1 yellow onion, and some lettuce. I’m inspired by this new plan and how it is working. We’ve stayed on target with the menu, with a few adjustments here and there. I did get sick for two days last week, and even though the menu schedule shifted, there was no additional expenditures, no running out to a restaurant for quick eats. I had made enough food on my days off for the Partner to survive a sick day or two.
I had some left over vegetables from the weekly cooking, so I let loose a soup. I love making soups, and there is usually more soup made than can be eaten. Not this time. I’m sure this Weekly Kitchen Sink Soup will go fast. It’s been rainy and gloomy for two days now, perfect soup weather.
This soup goes great with salad, or when it’s cold and rainy. The combination of ginger and clove is powerful, add the fennel into the mix and it becomes a potent hummy soup guaranteed to satisfy even the heartiest appetite.
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp sunflower oil
- ½ fennel bulb, shaved (left over from previous meal, found while rummaging around in fridge)
- 2 carrots, peeled and sliced into coins (if you prefer you can dice the carrots)
- broccoli stalk, peeled and diced (left over from previous meal)
- ½ inch ginger, peeled and cut into matchsticks
- 6 mushrooms (button or crimini), sliced (left over from salads and such)
- ½ head of cabbage, sliced thin (left over from making Bund Gobi)
- ½ tsp fennel seed, toasted
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- 1 tsp coriander, ground
- Pinch of clove, ground
Process
Prepare all the vegetables. Toast fennel seed. Set aside.
Heat up a soup pot, add sunflower oil. Turn heat down and add fennel. Cook until fennel starts to caramelize. Add carrots, ginger, and broccoli stalk. Saute until vegetables become tender. Add 6 cups of water, mustard seed, fennel seed, coriander and clove. Bring to a boil. Turn heat down and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes. Add cabbage and mushrooms. Cook until cabbage wilts, and mushrooms soften.
