Vegetable Soup

As a kid I hated vegetable soup. All I remember was mushy vegetables and yucky peas. Now, both my parents are great cooks but neither of them ever had the time to make vegetable soup from scratch. I mean they did have their hands full raising 5 children, 2 of which were twin boys followed by me 18 months later. I don't blame them, but it did leave a bad taste in my mouth. 

Now since I have a fidge full of tomatoes I decided I should try and make my own version of vegetable soup. It came out delicious so I thought I'd share the recipe with you all. It is a little time consuming but not difficult and a lot of it you can make ahead of time and then assemble it the day of. I actually tried to remember how much of everything I put in so I could post it if it came out good. Since it did, here is the recipe:

Roasted Vegetable Soup

~5 giant tomatoes (about the size of g-man's head)

~2 bell peppers (I did one yellow and one red)

~2 ears of corn

~4 carrots

~1 sweet onion

~4 cloves of garlic

~2 Tbs. olive oil

~3 cups water

~1/2 cup tiny pasta (I used puntalette, but any tiny pasta would do)

~salt, pepper, italian seasoning, basil, red pepper flakes

 Preheat oven to 425*. 

Thinly slice 2 tomatoes and place on foil-lined baking sheet. Drizzle with 1 tbs. of olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt and pepper. Place in oven for 20 mins., flipping once halfway thru. 

Dice carrots, onion, and garlic. Place on foil lined baking sheet (separate from tomatoes), drizzle with 1 tbs. olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt and pepper.  Place in oven 20 mins. flipping once halfway thru.

Now with the corn, we grilled it on the grill a few days before so I just scraped it off the cob. But when you take it off the cob don't throw away the cobs, you can add it to the soup later to give it more corn flavor.

Chop 2 tomatoes and place in pot. Now take the last tomato and squeeze all the juice out of it into the pot. Let tomatoes simmer for 20 mins. to bring out juices, then puree. Return to pot.

Add 3 cups of water and the corn cobs, let simmer 20 minutes then remove the cobs.  Now add in all your roasted vegetables, except the corn. Also add in your seasoning, I have no clue how much of  them I put in I just added some then tasted and added some more, just put in however much you like :) Then bring soup to a boil and add the noodles. Let boil for 5 mins. turn down to a simmer and add roasted corn. You may want to add some more water at this point if it's too thick. I think I added another cup or so. 

Oh also, if you have the rind of your parmesan cheese left over add it to the soup before you bring it to a boil. It will totally dissolve in the soup and add a wonderful flavor to it. If you don't save those rinds, you should start, they are excellent for soups and you can freeze them and then add them when your making any kind of soup.

So there you have it roasted vegetable soup! So yummy and you can make it ahead while tomatoes are in season and freeze it sans pasta for the winter months. Just add the pasta after you bring it to a boil.

This is definitely a soup you can play around with and add whatever veggies you have on hand. Hope you all enjoy it. Oh and let me know if you like when I post recipes. I never know if I should do more or less.

Have a great Wednesday!