A Soup for All Seasons-and a New Shiny Toy!

I love soup.  And, I love soup for so many reasons.

1) 1 pot- love that
2) You feel full after just one bowl
3) It can warm you up after a cold day
4) One of the things that makes you feel better when you feel like crud
5) Great solution for a whole bunch of food you need to use up quickly

Just to name a few...

This particular soup I am going to share with you is a favorite of mine because it's relatively healthy, super easy and cheap, and its great in the summer or the winter time.

You will need:
2 stalks of zucchini or up to 4
2 to 4 stalks of yellow squash
1 yellow onion
A few cups carrots
6 cups of stock
6 tablespoons flour
6 tablespoons butter
1 and 1/2 cups half and half
Cumin, Salt, Pepper, Paprika to taste
*Splash of Hot sauce-optional
*Note, however you want to distribute the ratios of vegetables is up to you.  If you want more of a yellow soup-have the squash dominate, etc.

1)Chunk Zucchini, onion, squash, and carrots and cover with the stock and boil until tender
2) Puree vegetables and put them back into the liquid

Enter my new shiny toy- the immersion blender!

Cue the Hallelujah Chorus! This is so much better than when I used to put spoonfuls into the blender and blend them up in batches.  You can do this, but let me tell you from personal experience-don't get impatient and put to much in because the steam will build up and throw off the lid, shooting bits of hot veges everywhere and can burn the ever living love out of your skin.

Look at this baby go!

*This batch was more green because I had more zucchini this time.

3) Make a rue out of the flour and butter and half and half.

Here's a little trick, too.  Instead of whisking the flour and butter together in the pan while it is melting (I've screwed this part up many times- leaving a lumpy mess).  Pre-mix the flour and butter together and melt the whole mixture at the same time (seen here):

4) Pour the rue into the vegetable mixture, mix with spices to taste (it may take a lot since the vegetables are a little bland).
5) Eat as is or top with sour cream or Greek yogurt, croutons, bacon, sausage, etc. and enjoy :) (It's great cold in the summer, too).  I use sausage and Greek yogurt this time.

Voila!