Fresh Herb and Vegetable Soup

One of the things that I love most about getting my produce from the Farmer's Market every weekend is that it forces me to get creative with the ingredients I have on hand. When you do your shopping at the grocery store, you have many options when it comes to produce. At times I am at a loss for what to cook simply because there are too many choices. At the Farmer's Market, I only have certain things to choose from and when I bring them home, that's what I have to make meals with.

This soup started out as a "throw it all in the pot" type of thing and ended up being one of the most delicious meals I have ever made!! I was skeptical the whole way through until I finally tasted it. WOW!! This is also the very first time I have ever made my own homemade stock. I have been saving the scraps of my onions, carrots, celery, herbs, peppers and other vegetables for months now and finally got enough to make a stock. It has a rich, deep flavor that is not comparable to anything store-bought. I can't wait to make more soups with this stock!!

Some of you may be thinking - soup in the spring?! Well, it's still rather chilly and very rainy and cloudy around here so soup is perfect. Also, this is made with spring ingredients. It's hearty and filling but refreshing at the same time, and full of flavor. We've already eaten the entire pot of this soup, it was that good. It didn't even make it until the next day!

For the mixed herbs, I used a combination of mostly watercress with some parsley, cilantro, spinach, and the green parts of the garlic plants I got at the market on Saturday. You can use whatever you have on hand to shape the taste. You might want to add a clove or two of garlic if you don't have garlic greens. For the potatoes, I used purple potatoes - they're my favorite. Yukon golds or red-skinned would work just as well.

We ate this soup ladled over some leftover cooked brown rice with slices of Bread of Life Bakery's spinach asiago bread on the side for a hearty and filling dinner.

I am sending this post to Weekend Herb Blogging, guest hosted this week by Honest Vanilla.

Fresh Herb and Vegetable Soup

• 1 large onion, chopped
• 3 carrots, sliced thin
• 2 small potatoes, chopped into small cubes
• 2 cups finely minced herbs - watercress, parsley, cilantro, garlic greens, basil, whatever you have
• 1 tomato, chopped
• 6 cups vegetable stock
• olive oil
• sea salt

Heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat. Saute the onion with a pinch of salt until soft and translucent, about five minutes. Transfer to a blender or food processor and add in half of the tomato and one cup of stock. Puree until smooth. Return to the pan and add the carrots, potatoes and remaining five cups of stock. Cover, bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer until the carrots and potatoes are tender - about fifteen minutes. Stir in the herbs and remaining tomato and season to taste with sea salt.

red - purple - orange - green - for all your nutrition needs!