Is your fridge in need of a clean-out?

9 Apr

Mine is. Today I dug around in there trying to find something to eat for lunch and ended up throwing together a pot of soup — using the leftovers in my fridge, plus a few other ingredients. 


Soup is one of those forgiving meals that you can make without a recipe. Just start with some broth and toss in some veggies, beans, rice, pasta, or whatever you have on hand. Sprinkle in some seasonings and…voila…you have soup. Here's what mine consisted of today:

1 carton of vegetable broth
leftover peas from earlier in the week
leftover broccoli from earlier in the week
leftover whole wheat couscous from earlier in the week
leftover chopped onions from yesterday's dinner
about 2 cups of cooked mixed beans (black, white, kidney, etc)
a handful of frozen diced green peppers and onions
1 can of no-salt diced tomatoes
1 spoonful of tomato paste (I keep it in a plastic tub in the freezer so I can use it as needed)
a bunch of fresh basil I bought for a new recipe
a big pile of chopped fresh spinach that needed to be eaten

I put it all in a big soup pot, except the fresh basil and spinach, and brought it to a boil then let it simmer about 10-15 minutes. I stirred in the basil and spinach and seasoned it with S&P, dried oregano and garlic powder. Done. (Even easier would have been a spoonful of Italian seasoning.) I ate it for lunch and have enough left for lunch this weekend. Try it!

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4 Responses to “Is your fridge in need of a clean-out?”

  1. JL Clark April 9, 2010 at 10:47 pm #

    looks really good…especially since I am on a diet of veggies and lean meat (oh the humanity!)

  2. Tamie Spears April 10, 2010 at 8:34 am #

    I'm still cooking meat for my family since I'm the only vegan. But I have them down to one fish/one chicken/one beef dinner per week and the rest are veg. I'm disturbed by the factory farming that provides meat to grocery stores, so we're only buying meat that has been ethically raised on more traditional farms. There are lots of veg recipes on my blog so check them out, if you get a chance. Thanks!

  3. Cyrus Brittain May 10, 2010 at 7:36 pm #

    Bravo, you were visited with simply brilliant idea

  4. Tamie Spears May 10, 2010 at 7:40 pm #

    gee, thanks.

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