Chef I.B. Dancing At Your Service

Can you believe that it's that time of year where the holidays have hit, it is cold, and everyone is sick? I know I am not a Doctor, but I have the perfect medicine: SOUP!!! It is yummy, easy to cook, healthy, and warm.

Last week, one of my fabulous dancing divas, Michela brought me her homemade vegetable soup to taste and holy WOW was it incredible. Of course, I immediately had to have her recipe and try it out for myself. After getting fresh vegetables from the Farmers' Market, I decided to make it today for lunch. I made a small amount, because I wanted to make sure that my soup tasted just as good as Michela's if not better. HAHA! Well...move over Chef Emeril and Chef Michela, because Chef I.B. Dancing is in the house! WOW...did I surprise myself. My soup with my own flair totally ROCKED! I out did myself and I am so impressed! As most of you know, I am extremely busy and I barely have time to go to the bathroom let alone cook. This is what is nice about this recipe, it is quick and very easy.

Take a look below at some tips to make your hearty, healthy vegetable soup even more crowd pleasing and delicious. Why not make a large quantity of hearty vegetable soup and freeze it for use at a later time? It's a meal that's healthy and your whole family can enjoy. I have included the recipe. Please leave comments below and let me know what your soup experience was like. Trust me, you will LOVE it!

1) Use the freshest of ingredients

Vegetable soup tastes best when you start with the freshest of vegetables. If you have a farmer's market, pick up some fresh, preferably organic, vegetables to use in your soup. Wash and chop your vegetables as soon as you get home and bag them until you're ready to make your soup. If tomatoes aren't in season, canned tomatoes will taste almost as good as fresh ones.

2) Vary your vegetables

To add to the health value of your soup and give yourself some variety, experiment with a variety of vegetables. Some suggestions include corn, carrots, okra, black-eyed peas, cannelloni beans, cabbage, turnips, beets, sweet potatoes, parsnips, spinach, zucchini, and any other fresh vegetable that strikes your fancy.

3) Consider your broth

When making vegetable soup, you can use beef, vegetable, chicken broths or even water for the base. Beef bouillon adds an additional meaty flavor to fresh vegetable soup. Try different bases and see which ones appeal to you the most. I prefer low sodium chicken broth.

4) Pump up the taste with herbs

If you're using fresh herbs, you're going to need to add more to your soup than you would if using dried herbs. This is because fresh herbs have a higher water content which dilutes out some of the flavor. You can add a variety of herbs to vegetable soup to give it more flavor but it's best to stick to two or three in any one recipe. Some suggestions include rosemary, marjoram, basil, oregano, thyme, bay leaf, garlic, dill, and parsley. These can really add to the flavor and allow you to cut down on the amount of unhealthy salt you use.

I.B. Dancing's Vegetable Soup Recipe:

All veggies purchased at the farmers market...NICE and FRESH!!!

1tbs olive oil
1 leek
2 stick of celery
2 yellow carrots
1 zucchini
1 red pepper
scallions
1/2 sweet potato
carrots
parsley
Broccoli
1 can of crushed tomatoes and/or fresh tomatoes (I used fresh tomatoes only)
Heat the oil and toss the veggies in for 10 minutes.
Then add tomatoes, chicken broth, and some water. Do not cook more that 20 minutes.
Sea salt and pepper to taste. I enjoy Trader Joe's Rainbow Peppercorn for seasoning with a touch of sea salt.