Seven tips for Great Soup

So I'm going to have to bail on the soup writing analogy because it would just take up too much brain power that I desperately need for like... making cranberry oat muffins, polishing the bathroom fixtures and writing another article on potty training.

But I will give you some soup tips.

1. Never use straight water. Use stock or broth. Though you can add water if you want.

2. Always saute meat and veggies in olive oil before adding to the pot for an extra layer of flavor.

3.For Mexican or Italian inspired soups, add a fresh tomato at the end. I do use canned tomatoes, but the tomato at the end adds in another layer.

4. You have your meats, your starches, (potato, bean, rice or pasta) and your veggies. You can use any combination of those, but I tend to stick to one meat and one starch. The exceptions are Minestrone, which uses beans and pasta and Italian sausage soups which can call for more than one type of meat. Oh, and Cajun inspired soup can use beans and rice.

5. At the end of almost any soup you can add a splash (just a splash and no, I do not know what a splash actually is) of balsamic vinegar and that adds another layer to the soup.

6. Know your herbs and spices. Fresh parsley and cilantro can MAKE a good soup:)

7. Get some kind of simple chopper. I got one from the Pampered Chef, but rarely used it till my dh showed me that I didn't have to use the rubber bottom, I could used it right on my plastic cutting boards. Now carrots, onions, peppers, etc. are easy to cut. Otherwise, I'd never make soup because it takes too long:)

There you have it. Now pretend I talked about the plot being the soup base, etc and you will have had your analogy:)

Oh, and Rinda, the toscana soup was out of this world and my whole family thanks you!
Teri