Food Friday: Refrigerator Soup, More or Less

When we were growing up Mother used to take all the leftovers in the refrigerator that were on the verge and threw them into a big soup pot.  Those soups were absolutely delicious.  Of course, there was no way ever to duplicate them since there was no recipe...just a dib of this and a dab of that until the pot was full and ready to heat and eat.  Well, I just did the same thing, sort of.

We had carrots, celery, onions, broccoli, and other things in the refrigerator that needed to be used.  The next day was going to be very taxing to me physically so I wanted food ready the instant we got home. So I chopped vegetables and put them in the refrigerator overnight.  In the morning I added the dibs and dabs and started the Crockpot on Low and set it for 8 hours.  When I got home there was some truly delicious soup.  Even Dear One liked it.  He had arrived home an hour before I did and was sitting on the couch fat and happy after a big bowl of soup.  Well, definitely not fat, but doesn't that have a nice ring to it?!

What I did:

1/2 pound carrots, peeled and sliced
4 stalks celery, sliced
2 small russet potatoes, scrubbed and diced
1/2 large sweet onion, diced
1/2 large red onion, diced
1 head broccoli, chopped VERY fine.  No need to throw broccoli in anyone's unsuspecting face...!

These were stored in the refrigerator overnight.

Since I had almost 3 cups of Soy Curls that I had purchased at the New Seasons Market, I put them in a large pot,  put in 4 or 5 cups of water then stirred in 2 Tablespoons of the savory seasoning I blogged about some time ago plus 2 heaping Tablespoons of Better Than Bouillon Roasted Vegetable Base. I stirred this well then covered and let sit on the counter overnight.

In the morning I put the vegetables plus the Soy Curls and their broth into the Crockpot.  Way not enough ingredients so I took a half can of refried beans and stirred them in.  There was a 15-ounce can of diced fire-roasted tomatoes I tossed in, then a big jar of Salsa Verde.  I added a teaspoon of chili powder and a Tablespoon of granulated garlic.  When this was all nicely stirred, I added the last of the homemade vegetable broth and more water to bring it up to 3/4 full in the 7-quart Crockpot, turned it on low for 8 hours and walked the long way to the office.  I walked an even longer way home from the office and collapsed in my chair, too tired to eat but happy that Dear One pronounced the soup good.  After half an hour or so I had life enough to eat some. It was really good.

This soup had the most flavorful broth.  Soup is all about broth to me....

If you don't know what Soy Curls are, they are soy beans that have been cooked, cooled, then extruded into some sort of shape then dried.  They taste like nothing until you soak them in some sort of broth.  Then you can use them in many ways.  They have texture, unlike tofu, and are really worth trying.  You can make "chicken" salad with them.  You can make "tuna" salad with them.  You can make "beef stroganoff" with them.  So many things.  And don't mind a bit.

These are the soy curls that have been soaking overnight and have plumped up beautifully. They were the last thing I threw into the pot before adding broth water to make lots more broth.