Sick Day

To put it simply, I am not feeling well. The type of ‘not feeling well’ that normally would call for only one thing: Chicken Noodle Soup. Which clearly isn't an option. Obviously I knew there had to be a substitute for what I was craving, but off the top of my head I wasn’t sure what that was. The craving began last night right before I was to head off for (a very early) bed. My sweet, loving husband offered to go to the store and pick up some soup for me. Knowing that there are a lot of hidden ingredients that make things not vegan, I told him to simply look for a telling label on a soup item and get whatever he could find.

What he found was Black Bean Soup.

Now, I like Black Bean Soup. But when it’s 8:00 at night and you feel sick, that’s not typically a go-to. I believe it was all he could find (either the New Year’s resolution people or couponers seemed to have cleared the shelves), but I just couldn’t bring myself to eat it.

Today, feeling worse, I knew that I had to come up with something. And fast. A 25 month old and 4 month old don’t allow for much cooking time during the day. But thankfully what I was able to create was just what I needed.

I didn’t want anything other that a clear broth soup and I also wanted to make sure it was really full of flavor. I started with the bible ingredients of veggie stock: carrots, onion, celery and mushrooms (even if you don’t like mushrooms, I HIGHLY recommend using them in the base of a veggie stock).

 

 

After they sautéed for a bit, I threw in some water and added some kale. Now, here’s where I stopped thinking and just ‘did’. I felt like along with taste, I just needed any type of nutrient my body could get.  I have no idea what made me think of it, but I had this box of frozen veggies in the fridge that seemed to be a perfect match. A lot of Green Giant medleys have butter in them (booooooo) but even after a Google search, nothing seemed to point to anything dairy related in the mix.

 

 

Last, I threw in some endamame, chopped tomatoes, salt, more water, and barley.

 

 

 

The whole thing *maybe* took me 15 minutes. Simmer for another 20, and I was on my way to better health and deliciousness.