The medical profession admits homemade chicken soup helps those who are sick with colds or the flu recover a bit faster. One of my pet peeves about chicken noodle soup is that it doesn’t have much staying power. I prefer adding some beans instead.

The most time-consuming part of homemade chicken or turkey soup is making the broth. So, planning ahead is good. After making a Thanksgiving turkey recently, I made turkey broth, and froze what I didn’t need.

Fast forward a few weeks later, and a couple of us in the house have scratchy throats. It’s time to pull out the turkey broth from the freezer and rustle up the ingredients to make a lovely vegetable soup. Follow the recipe, and in a little more than 30 minutes, you’ll be sitting down to a steaming hot bowl of hearty soup. Happiness. Joy. Scratchy throat relieved. For a little while.

Hearty Vegetable Soup

Ingredients

• 8-10 cups Turkey broth (I used 5 cups homemade turkey broth + 4 cups low-sodium Swanson chicken broth)
• 15.5 oz. canned black beans, rinsed
• 15.5 oz. canned cannellini beans, rinsed
• 1 small piece dried or fresh ginger
• 1 lb. mixed frozen vegetables
• 1/2 lb. frozen corn
• 1/2 lb. frozen broccoli

Heat broth and bring to a boil, then reduce to low. Add beans and ginger, stir, then let simmer for 30 minutes. Midway through, after the beans have cooked 15 minutes, add the mixed vegetables and broccoli. After 30 minutes of cooking, add the frozen corn and let cook an additional 5 minutes. Taste to see if you need to add salt or pepper.

I make my turkey broth with salt, so I generally don’t have to add salt to my soup. I do like to add a little ground pepper. Enjoy!

I love eating hot soup for lunch in the winter, don’t you? It’s especially wonderful when the soup is absolutely delectable, and you can’t seem to stop your spoon from continuously dipping back into the bowl for more soup.

I must tell you, this Hearty Winter Vegetable soup, made with some ingenious ingredients, is simply delicious. The sweetness of the butter squash ran throughout, and the homemade chicken broth added to the addictive flavor. The chickpeas were quite tasty, and I usually don’t care for chickpeas! Yukon gold potatoes added to the heartiness factor. A whole head of escarole, chopped up, and thrown in at the end added to the appeal. But the crowning glory was the 2 tablespoons of real lemon juice and chopped up mint leaves. Each bite was heavenly.

A big thank you to the Ehrlich’s for sharing their fab recipe for Hearty Winter Vegetable Soup in the January 2010 issue of Martha Stewart Living  magazine! I substituted onion for leeks, eliminated the fresh dill (as I had used dill to cook my homemade chicken stock) and more than halved the spiciness; I used only a very, very small pinch of red pepper flakes. I also ended up adding 2 more cups of chicken broth than the 5 1/4 cups the recipe called for, probably because I let it simmer longer than the 15 minutes the recipe suggested.

Total time to make the soup–about 45 minutes, including prep time. My mother helped me chop up some of the vegetables for the soup, and stirred the veggies in the pot while I cut the butternut squash. Thanks to Mom, nothing burned while I was chopping. Thanks, Mom!

I wish I had been able to serve the soup with good bread and cheese. I just happened to not have those on hand that day.

I simply must make some more chicken broth soon so that I can make this soup again! It is the best soup I have ever made. What is your favorite soup?

Photo by Kelly Estes