Friday, November 20, 2015

Leftover Veggie Tray?

with Missy Tippens

Last weekend I had an all-day church choir retreat. We do this every year to spend a day preparing our Christmas music. For lunch, we buy sub sandwiches, and then everyone brings side dishes, salads and desserts.

This year, I volunteered to bring a vegetable tray. After our lunch break, I checked and thought the leftovers had been put in the refrigerator. But over two hours later when we went to clean up, I found I had been wrong. The veggies (and dip!) were still sitting out. So I pitched the dip and brought the tray home.

Though the vegetables were probably okay,  I was scared for us to eat any of it. But I hated to waste it. So I decided to make vegetable soup!

Ingredients

Assorted leftover vegetables (you can just clean out your fridge or freezer!)
Any additional vegetables
½ onion, chopped
1 clove chopped garlic
1 box vegetable broth plus 2 cups of water
1 can pinto or some other type bean (I used mixed pinto and navy beans)
1 can diced tomatoes (including the liquid)



Chop the leftover vegetables.
Note: I sliced the baby carrots, halved the grape tomatoes and chopped the celery. I also broke apart the broccoli flowerettes. But I ended up wishing I had chopped the broccoli smaller. (Call me weird, but for some crazy reason I can't stand to get a big broccoli chunk in soup!)


Cook the sliced celery and onion (I actually didn't have one, so I used some dried onion) in a little oil and butter until softened. Add the garlic.


Add the tomatoes and carrots and cook until softened.


Season the veggies. I used salt, pepper and one of my new favorites that I discovered thanks to those of you here at the Cafe! Penzey's Sunny Paris.


Pour in the broth, the canned tomatoes and any canned vegetables. Then toss in the broccoli and let everything simmer for about 20 minutes.


At the end, add the bag of baby spinach and let it wilt.

Ta da! No wasted veggie tray. :)

13 comments:

  1. If anyone happened to drop by at midnight, I apologize for not having the post up! I was taking the dog out one last time for the night and remembered I had uploaded photos but forgotten to write and schedule the post. :)

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  2. I'm laughing at you, apologizing at 12:25!!!!!! :)

    I've done this, too, Missy, but boy this looks good. Marvelously good! Like I could jump through the screen and just have a soup-for-breakfast day!!!!

    Great way to recirculate those veggies!

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    1. Ruthy, I'm just thankful the thought hit me. Otherwise, I would have gotten up this morning and remembered! LOL

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  3. I so know what you mean about wasting those veggies from the veggie tray. Everyone wants veggies at those functions, but few really eat them. Toooo funny. Great idea to make soup. I've put them in stew also.

    And soup is perfect for this time of year.

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    1. That's true, Sandra! I think everyone went for the other stuff first. :)

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  4. I practically live on soup in the winter. There's something so soothing about homemade soup on a cold winter day. You have me craving a fresh veggie soup but all I have in the house is an onion. Guess it's plain old lentil without veggies for me today.

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    1. Kav, the nice thing about this was that there was no washing or peeling. :)

      Lentil soup sounds good!

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  5. This dish lives out the old Amish saying, "Use it up, wear it out, make it do, do without." You put those veggies to good use! I'll have to remember this.

    And you were right to throw out the dip (food safety issues), but the veggies were probably fine. Still, why pass up an opportunity to make soup?

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    1. I love that saying, Jan! My husband will love it even more than I do. It's a running joke in our family to guess how old Dad's clothes are. Some pieces are over 20 years old, and he takes pride in that. LOL

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  6. Oh, this looks so good! This doesn't look like leftover food at all!

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    1. It turned out tasty and looking pretty yummy, too. :)

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  7. This is fascinating, Missy. Especially because of the veggies you mixed in. I've never thought of throwing tomatoes or broccoli into a veggie soup.

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    1. Mary, I never put broccoli in mine either. But I always put in canned tomatoes! I love how the juice adds so much to the broth. Still, the grape tomatoes were a little unusual. :)

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