Veggie Soup

One of the things I really enjoy about summer is the local fruit stand.  I like buying produce that is locally grown and fresh.  Recently, I discovered a new store in town that sells fresh produce and meat all year round!  Hooray!  So I have been checking out what they have (can't tell you how yummy my oranges are right now from Danny's farm).  This week I decided to make a vegetable soup.  I used to make this for its healthy goodness, but the taste and texture of cooked cabbage makes me shudder quite a lot!  So after YEARS of straining out the veggies once it cooked and throwing them out, it dawned on me to puree them!

8 cups tomato juice

8 cups of water

1 cabbage slices

1 large onion

2 zucchini

5 carrots

3 tsp. chicken bouillon

salt and pepper to taste

Throw everything in a LARGE pot and simmer for 1 hour.  My pot was a little small so I only used half (4 cups) of the water to simmer in the pot with the veggies.

Once it cooled, I strained out the veggies and threw them in another pot with the remaining 4 cups of water.  In small batches, I pureed the water and veggies.  After each batch, I added the puree to the remaining tomato juice stock.

And yum!  I froze 3 bags of this soup and have 4 containers ready to eat in the refrigerator.  I took some to work yesterday, poured it into a mug and drank it since it's thin enough.  Great flavor, no icky cabbage to chew and all the benefits of a mug full of veggie goodness!  Next time, I might add tomatoes, cauliflower (mom thought it might thicken it up a bit - good idea), and some squash.  If you try it, let me know what other veggies you add!