I love food. Especially soup.

I love food. My choices are limited, but within the confines of what I can safely eat, I truly enjoy every single option. I’m pretty sure that for the vast majority of people this would be an obvious and unnecessary declaration, but for those with food allergies or sensitivities sometimes the required dietary limitations cause others to question if we even enjoy our food.

The amount of joy I feel eating was made especially clear to me last week during a stint in the hospital, 48 hours of which was spent NPO (nil per os in Latin, or, in English, nothing by mouth) and unable to eat or drink anything. When I was finally allowed clear liquids I sipped my lukewarm hospital broth with a ridiculous amount of satisfaction, reveling in the salty umami-ness of it. I suspect my roommate heard me moaning.

Soup is a regular part of my diet and something I frequently recommend to my patients with GI issues due to its flexibility and easy digestibility. The past few months of hot sticky weather have curbed my desire to heat up the kitchen, though, so I’ve gotten out of the habit of making it lately. That first hospital meal reminded me how much I enjoy the combination of soft chunky vegetables and flavorful broth. So, my first night home and unable to sleep, I found myself in the kitchen at 1:00 am chopping vegetables for a pot of soup.

Photo by Bluebird Provisions from Pexels

As I often do when I make soup (or food in general, for that matter), I didn’t exactly follow a recipe for this pot, but instead combined the vegetables I had on hand with seasonings from recipes I’ve followed in the past. The inspiration for this pot of soup was the Spicy Peanut Soup with Sweet Potato and Kale (minus the peanuts) from Pinch of Yum. I’ve made versions of this soup with a variety of different vegetables, fresh and frozen, and it’s always delicious. Don’t be shy – throw in whatever you have in the kitchen!

Sorry for the exceptionally poor photo quality. I snapped the picture quickly before eating and then accidentally left the pot out for hours and had to throw the rest away. :(

Today’s Vegetable Soup

Ingredients:

• 1 large onion, diced

• 3 cloves garlic, diced

• 3 small sweet potatoes, chopped

• 3 carrots, chopped

• 1-2 cups cherry or grape tomatoes, halved or quartered

• 1 cup fresh green beans, snapped in quarters

• 1 zucchini squash, chopped

• 1 cup red lentils, rinsed

• 1 14 oz can fire roasted tomatoes

• 1 14 oz can coconut milk

• 1 32 oz container vegetable broth

• Water to achieve desired consistency (I wanted mine brothy)

• 1 teaspoon black pepper

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 2 teaspoons Indian curry powder

• 2 teaspoons turmeric

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a soup pot (mine is 6 quarts and was 2/3 to ¾ full). Bring to a gentle boil then reduce heat and simmer until vegetables are tender (20-30 minutes depending on how small they’re chopped). Enjoy!