Anything Goes Vegetable Soup

So I've recently been inspired by my friend Meghan to eat more vegetables. She's especially good at this, as in she eats steamed broccoli for breakfast. Yes, she does. #vegetablemachine

Considering that I tend to cycle through the same 2-3 vegetables as side dishes for dinner, I wasn't exactly sure how to go about upping my daily veggie intake. Meghan to the rescue with her great vegetable soup idea!

The great thing about this soup is that you can literally put any vegetable you want in there. Really, anything. Here's the basic "recipe" Meghan gave me:

Anything Goes Vegetable Soup

Any vegetables you want - chopped.

1 box of tomato puree (this would be a small 8 oz can of tomato sauce in America)

Water - however much you want

Seasonings - salt & pepper to taste, and then whatever else you want to add (I added just a bit of Mrs. Dash Southwest Seasoning, per Meghan's suggestion)

1-3 chopped green chiles - Meghan is daring and likes to use 3, but I could only handle 2 small ones. These really add a ton of flavor and a little kick of heat to the soup.

Dump everything into a big pot. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 30 minutes to an hour or until the vegetables are as soft as you'd like them to be. 

I can't even begin to tell you how awesome this was. I made a big pot last night and plan to eat it for lunch all week - this will be the most veggies I've ever consumed in a week before! I ate some for the first time today, and it was quite yummy. And because it's all vegetables, you can eat a really big bowl, which is really filling!! Win!

Here's what I put in my first concoction (pictured above):

Handful of green beans

2 carrots

1 green capsicum (bell pepper)

1 zucchini

4 tomatoes

1 cup of frozen peas

4 small potatoes

1 small onion

4 cloves of garlic

1 cup of black beans

2 small green chiles

Here are some other ideas:

Mushrooms

Corn

Broccoli

Cauliflower

Sweet potatoes

Chick peas

Any other kind of bean

Celery

Kale

Any other vegetable you can think of! Anything goes!!!

ONE IMPORTANT NOTE: Keep in mind that whenever you boil vegetables, some of the nutrients cook out into the water. So in order to consume all the nutrients from the veggies, you MUST eat/drink the broth with this soup! Which it tastes good, so no hardship there. 

Meghan, thanks for revolutionizing my nutrient intake.