Broken Refrigerator Soup

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Today's adventure- one cranky kid, one broken refrigerator, a ton of frozen produce, and a pot of yummy soup!

When we bought our house in 2008, the previous owner had purchased all new appliances before selling.  Unfortunately, the fridge that came with the house was not designed for a family of four!  After three years of dealing with the world's tiniest fridge, we broke down and bought a brand new refrigerator about a month ago.  I knew this fridge would be just the ticket during summer produce season- french doors, bottom freezer, 3 deep crisper drawers, and all the bells and whistles.  I tell you, I've been loving the new fridge.  No more cramming and shoving.  No more loosing things in the fridge.  Everything has a place- except the Coors Light, which they make in those goofy tall cans, but that's another story. 

But, today my wonderful new fridge went crazy on me.  I went to get a glass of iced tea after lunch and heard clunk, clunk, clunk as I poured it into my glass.  The ice tea was nearly frozen solid!  Now, I can deal with frozen ice tea, but frozen produce?  Not so much.  Now I had a fridge full of produce to use in one day.  What else could I do but make soup!  Here is my recipe for, what I shall call, Broken Refrigerator Soup:

Broken Refrigerator Soup:

This soup can be made with any variety or combination of vegetables.  I just used what was in my poor, frozen fridge.

Cut up and put into a large stock pot:

• celery
• green onion (from the bucket)
• white turnips
• carrots
• mushrooms
• braising mix (see, I found a use for braising mix!)
• minced garlic
• zucchini

I also added:

• one can of precooked organic chicken breast
• a generous sprinkle of Penzey's Bicentennial Rub (not intended as a soup spice but it gives the soup an amazing peppery flavor!)
• salt
• Penzey's Black and Red (I think I use this in everything)
• Penzey's Bouquet Garni (which is a tasty mix of various herbs)
• Garlic Salt

Add one large blob of Earth Balance Buttery Spread and saute the veggies until they begin to soften up- and smell delicious! 

Raw Cut up Veggies

Then, add one 32 ounce box of organic chicken broth and bring to a boil.  After the soup has boiled for a while, turn off the heat, cover, and let sit.  I think mine sat for at least 3 or 4 hours.  When I was almost ready to eat, I cooked half a box of whole wheat "gobbetti" pasta.  Normally I'm not a huge fan of whole wheat pasta, but I've discovered a brand called "bionaturae organic" that is really quite good.  It even fools Bryce, my 4 year old pasta aficionado.  You can buy it at the co-op (for the locals).  I cooked the pasta in a separate pot before adding it to the soup.  Otherwise the pasta soaks up too much of the broth.

Bring it all back to a boil, serve, and enjoy!

 The finished product!

  

We ate our soup with spicy tuna-salad sandwiches.

Spicy Tuna-Salad Sandwiches:

• 1 pouch of tuna in water
• 5 green onions, sliced (from the bucket!)
• reduced fat mayo with olive oil- enough to moisten the tuna
• Penzey's Black and Red
• Garlic Salt
• Salt
• Penzey's Spicy Oriental Mustard Powder

Mash all of the ingredients together with a fork.  Serve on hamburger buns (I used buns from the Marquette Bakery- seriously the best hamburger buns ever!).  Top with a slice of sharp cheddar and some buckwheat sprouts (from the bucket).  Mmmmmm.

Spicy Tuna-Salad Sandwich

Bailey Liked the Soup!

Picky-boy Bryce is all smiles- although he opted for a salami and cheese sandwich