Vegetarian Frugal Housewife

Papa and Mama have been traveling in the UK for the past couple of weeks and, although we are looking for some place to settle for the next few months, have been hopping from place to place.

We have, thus, also been hopping from kitchen to kitchen…some equipped better than others.

On a recent visit to a small farming community in the English countryside we stayed with rather excessively frugal hosts who had very little of the things that I would normally use to start a soup and lots of things that were several years past date.

I wrestled what I thought might be usable out of their cabinets and set about trying to fashion an edible soup for lunch.

So with a little bit of veggies and a random selection of flavoring ingredients I managed to come up with this little ditty.

Papa actual said it was my second-best soup ever, so there you have it…good soup on the fly.

Travelers Tartan Soup

Ingredients:

1 large tomato, diced
1 medium onion, diced
1-2 celery stalks, cut into thin pieces
5-6 sml potatoes, diced
1/2 cup lentils
handful rice
1 lrg carrot, cut into thin coins
5 med-lrg mushrooms, diced
8-10 cups water
2 tblspn yeast extract
2-3 cubes vegetable bullion
1 tblspn salt
1 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp cumin
pinch caraway seed
1/8 tsp turmeric
pinch ginger
2 tsp Italian spices (ie. basil, oregano, thyme, etc.)
3 tbsp olive oil

1. Heat water to boiling, add yeast extract and bullion. Allow to dissolve.

2. Fry onions, mushrooms and tomatoes in the olive oil, add to soup pot.

3. Add all other ingredients to soup pot.

4. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 45 minutes.

5. Serve with bread, crackers or salad.

*This recipe is designed for alternatives. I made it a couple of days later with parsnips and frozen broad beans as well as some sage and thyme that I pinched fresh from their garden.