Game Day Soup

Saturdays during the Winter months = game days for both our girls.  Meagan is happily traveling with her team this weekend (without pain and mom or dad).  Kelsie has a home game today so off to Pennsylvania we go.

We'll join with the team and other families after the game to share a potluck meal and enjoy a few minutes of face time with our girl.  What a great opportunity to take a favorite food for her to enjoy.  She mentioned soup and her very favorite is mine as well.

I don't typically cook meals with recipes.  I adore reading cookbooks and getting ideas for food combinations but I save the recipes for the baking.  I like to create when I cook a meal.

Because I've seen my husband and his family lament over not having his grandmother's secret recipes for their favorite treats and try time and again to recreate them I think I need to record my cooking in some way so that when my kids want to make an old favorite, they have something to refer to.

To prepare the soup base, bring 32 oz of chicken stock and 28 oz of diced tomatoes 

with juice to a boil.  Add 1 TBSP of minced garlic.

This is my favorite chicken stock because it has so much flavor.   

Color is my first thought when putting foods together.  In a soup I like to see an even mixture of orange, green, red, white, yellow and even brown or black.  Add your favorite veggie/color combinations.   I like baby bok choy, butternut squash, zucchini and mushrooms for this soup.  Dice small or leave in large chunks according to your liking.  Remember that when the water is released from the vegetable it will shrink in size.

Add these prepared vegetables to the pot and cook down for a short while.

Add salt and fresh ground pepper.

After the largest veggies are cooked to your liking and the water has been released, 

add some meat if you choose.  

Our favorite are these Sabatino brand
chicken meatballs from Costco.

I cut them in half so that they are more bite sized
and heat through faster.

Once the meatballs become one with the veggies in the pot I turn it off and let it sit 

to absorb all the flavors.  Soup and stew are always better after sitting.

We will let it cool, package it for travel and head up the road.  

It will reheat easily in the crock pot while we watch some round ball.  

I can't resist throwing in my dad's name for the game.  

Soup's on Kelsie and we brought your favorite tea also.

liquid gold.....

In the end it's all about seeing our girls and catching up on some family time 

even if just for the length of a meal.