Day 40: Dinner

My late Aunt Vivian was both an avid cook and gardener. She always made a point to cook up several dozen gallons of her signature vegetable soup (which I'm pretty sure was vegan) every year so that everyone in the family could have a few jars. She'd use the vegetables from her garden, so the composition would depend on the year's harvest. And was it ever good. Unfortunately, her recipe died when she did.

This vegetable soup recipe was almost as good (although in the case of the beans and corn, I added a little more than was called for- you can do the same). Here it is:

• 3 cups vegetable broth (the recipe called for beef broth, but that's not how I roll)
• 2 cups water
• 1 cup tomato juice
• 2 smallish potatoes, diced
• 3 carrots, diced
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1/2 green pepper, diced
• 1/2 cup frozen green beans
• 1/2 cup soybeans (recipe called for limas, but again, that's not how I roll)
• 1/2 cup corn
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper
• 1/2 tsp. salt

1. Combine broth, water and tomato juice in a large kettle, and bring to a boil.

2. Meanwhile, saute carrots, onions, and bell pepper with olive oil.

3. Add sauteed vegetables to broth mixture along with other vegetables and salt and pepper. Cook over medium heat for 45 minutes.

4. Toward end of cooking time, remove 2 cups of soup and process in a blender until pureed. Add back to the soup. (This will thicken the soup.)

5. Remove from heat. Ideally, you should let it sit for about an hour, so that the flavors can meld. But if you just can't wait, you can go ahead and eat.

This soup supposedly gets better with time (and I believe it). So the plethora of leftovers you'll have will be even better.