Soup for the Soul

Despite my three weeks of rest I am still a wreck. This sinus infection is kicking my butt and all I want is comfort food. Seriously. My co-workers bought donuts to celebrate the second last day of my contract and I ate two of them. I'm not regretting that but I knew I needed to find something somewhat healthy for dinner before I could dig into any more junk.

My sister has also been under the weather and began an elimination diet a couple days ago to see if she could find the source of her health problems. She has to cut out wheat, dairy, some meats, some fruits and vegetables, alcohol, processed sugar, caffeine, and likely other things I'm forgetting. Only a couple of days into it and she's struggling to figure out a way she can change up her meals.

Soup was the most obvious choice. Simple, healthy, and comforting, it's one of my favourite things to make because I don't have to follow a recipe. Today I made an easy vegetable soup.

After grabbing just a few items I didn't have at the grocery store, I came home from work and immediately began prepping. I chopped onion, carrots, celery, a potato, and cauliflower. Warming some olive oil, I sauteed the onion with minced garlic until the onion was translucent. Next I added in the potato for five minutes before adding the celery, carrots, and cauliflower.

The potato didn't fully cook but that would be fixed later. Once the vegetables were tender I stirred in some dried basil, dried oregano, and dried parsley flakes before pouring low-sodium vegetable broth to fill the pot. Everything was free-poured and to taste... no measurements were needed.

I brought the soup to a boil (after wondering for five minutes why it wasn't boiling and then realizing I hadn't turned up the heat) and then lowered the soup back to a simmer for half an hour. The boiling and simmering cooks the vegetables, like the potato further. I also cooked some brown rice to mix in.

I've made "this" soup so many times but switching out different vegetables depending on what I felt like or what I had on hand. Other awesome options would have been zucchini (which my sister doesn't like), corn, or tomatoes (both a no-no on her elimination diet).

Making soup has me excited for the cooler weather. Last year I made soup almost weekly and I can't wait to experiment with new recipes this fall.

What are your go-to comfort foods?