Ultra Healthy, Very Thick Vegetable Soup/Chili

Ultra Healthy Thick Vegetable Soup/Chili

Here's a very simple recipe for an immune-system boosting soup (it's pretty thick, so I often refer to it as more of a "vegetable chili") that will keep you warm during the cold months. It also ends up being pretty cheap to make.

You will need:

A 5 quart pan

A big spoon

Can opener

Something to store leftover soup in for the freezer

Ingredients:

1 can red beans

1 can black beans

1 4 oz can black olives

1 4 oz can Portobello mushrooms

1 can Rotel diced tomatoes and green chilies

1 can tomato paste

1 bag frozen mix of carrots and broccoli

I box frozen spinach

Fresh cilantro, to taste

Diced jalapenos, to taste

These are the spices I use, but you can change it up to whatever you prefer:

Cayenne pepper, to taste

Onion powder, to taste

Garlic powder, to taste

Basil, to taste

Oregano, to taste

Rosemary, to taste

Salt, to taste

Pepper, to taste

These are the toppings I use:

Frank's Red Hot sauce

Tabasco sauce

Shredded cheddar cheese

Sunflower seeds

100% wheat bread

All you have to do, basically, is toss all of the ingredients into the pot, set the heat on the stove to medium/high, cover and stir occasionally until it's piping hot. This makes about 6 servings, so I put just enough for a serving in separate containers (usually old whipped cream or butter containers) to store in the freezer. It seems to be even more flavorful after it's been stored in the freezer awhile. I like to top mine with cheddar cheese and sunflower seeds and have some toasted 100% wheat bread with it. Yummy!

This soup is loaded with fiber and antioxidants. I like to add all of the hot sauces because spicy food can boost your metabolism (and I'm just a hot sauce lovin' gal), but if you can't handle the heat, you can cut them out, and, of course, you can change the recipe up as you please or use fresh vegetables instead of frozen.