Vegan Mofo 2012: 10 Minute Soup

Some days you just don't want to spend an hour cooking. This is one of my answers to those days.

It's not really a recipe, since it depends on what I have on hand.

1. Put about 2 cups of water or stock in a saucepan, and heat over medium high.

2. Decide on your seasoning base. You can use bouillon or season later with miso, I usually add a few dashes of shoyu (naturally fermented soy sauce), a smashed clove of garlic, sometimes ginger, herbs, or red pepper flakes, and a few drops of  sesame oil. If you used stock, you can skip this step.

3. Add your veggies. I always keep frozen spinach and peas on hand, so they're usually in this soup, along with fresh onions and carrots. Mushrooms, roasted red pepper, broccoli, leafy greens, green beans and sugar snap peas have also found their way into my pot. Hearty veggies go in first, more delicate veggies go in last.

4. Add protein if you want. This is a perfect place to use leftover seasoned tofu, tempeh, cooked beans, or premade meat analogs. I used Morningstar Farms chick'n strips in this bowl.

5. Add your noodles. The cooking time actually depends on how long your noodles will take to cook. These noodle take less than 5 minutes, but something like penne or fettuccine would take a lot longer. You can also use orzo, leftover pasta, or leftover grains like rice or quinoa. 

6. Garnish! Toasted sesame seeds, shredded nori, and greens onions all make great garnishes, but it depends on what's in your soup and what you have on hand. If your soup is more Italian, fresh basil might be better.