Grandma’s Favorite Veggie Soup

While visiting my grandma in Arizona a few months ago I made this soup for her and she loved it so much she asked me to make it again so she would have some left-over after I went home. Then just yesterday I got an email from my mom asking me for the recipe because grandma wanted to make it for herself! I wish there was a way that I could make some and mail it to her but until teleportation becomes reasonably priced I’ll have to settle for her making her own. Luckily it’s a pretty simple recipe that only takes about 20 minutes and you can easily double or triple it and freeze the excess.

Makes: about 1.5 liters (6.5 cups)

Preparation time: 10m
Cooking time: 10m
Total time: 22m

Ingredients:

  • 1 large carrot
  • 1 medium zucchini
  • 2 celery stalks
  • 1 cup frozen spinach (or 4 cups chopped fresh spinach)
  • 3 cups cooked black beans (or 2 15oz cans, drained and rinsed)
  • 1/2 cup organic frozen corn (you can also use fresh corn, but avoid canned)
  • 3 cups vegetable stock
  • 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic granules
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper (optional)
  • salt and pepper (to taste)

Equipment: 2-liter saucepan or larger, blender

Instructions:

  1. Mince the carrot, zucchini and celery. You can either do this with a knife, or in a blender. To do it in a blender chop the veggies into about 2-inch chunks then blend on a low setting until they are chopped up but not puréed. Work in batches of about 1 cup at a time as to not overtax the blender, nor liquify the veggies.
  2. Place the minced carrot, zucchini and celery in a medium-sized saucepan along with the frozen spinach, black beans, vegetable stock and spices.
  3. Bring to a boil then lower heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
  4. Test the veggies for texture, if you are happy with the consistency then continue to the next step. Otherwise if you would like them softer you can cook for a few minutes longer.
  5. Remove 1/3 of the soup and put in into the blender. Blend on high until smooth.
  6. Return the blended soup to the saucepan and stir. You can either serve right away or if it has cooled too much you can bring it back up to a desired heat before serving.
  7. Enjoy right away or refrigerate and eat it within a week. You can also freeze this soup. I recommend using individual serving containers so that it will defrost in the refrigerator in about a day.