I looked at this recipe from RFR "Creamy Winter Vegetable Soup" and
thought it looks like a decent start to soup if you replaced the water
with chicken stock, upped the garlic added some cabbage and maybe some
sliced Italian sausge or chicken...How would you modify it to make it
meet your tastes?


Creamy Winter Vegetable Soup

Adapted from One-Dish Vegetarian Meals, by Robin Robertson (The
Harvard Common Press, 2007).

Creamy Winter Vegetable Soup's beautiful golden-colored centerpiece is
rice, making for a comfort food soup infused with the mild and mellow
flavors of roots and squash, and the slightly citrusy flavor of
marjoram.

Rice is used to thicken as well as to enrich this
warming winter soup. Very soft rice works best, so if your cooked rice
is quite firm, add it to the pot as the vegetables are simmering to
cook it a little longer.

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 medium-size onion, diced
1 carrot, chopped
1/4 cup minced celery
1 Yukon Gold or other potato, peeled and diced
1 cup diced butternut squash
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
5 cups water
2 cups cooked white or brown rice
1 cup cooked white beans
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Minced fresh Italian parsley or chives, for garnish

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion,
carrot, and celery and cook, covered, for 5 minutes, or until
softened. Add the potato, squash, garlic, marjoram, and water, bring
to a simmer, and simmer for 20 minutes, or until the vegetables are
tender. Stir in the cooked rice and remove from heat.

Puree the soup mixture, in batches, in a food processor until
smooth and return to the saucepan. Reheat slowly over low heat,
stirring occasionally. Season with salt and pepper and serve sprinkled
with the parsley or chives.

Serves 4.


--

The house of the burning beet-Alan

It'll be a sunny day in August, when the Moon will shine that night-
Elbonian Folklore