You may have already heard, but here in the Northeast we had a freakish October snowstorm! For me, there is nothing better to eat during a snowstorm than soup. Although I had canned soup in the cabinet, I wanted to create a soup using the ingredients and leftovers I found in my pantry and refrigerator.  I felt very inspired by the shades of the vibrant fall foliage contrasted with the stark white falling snow, and I decided to celebrate this early winter trick of nature by making a colorful, healthy, and filling soup for a cozy dinner treat. 

My primary hardware used: Cuisinart 7″ Stainless Steel Santuko, cutting board, large soup pot, can opener.

Time: about 30-40 minutes.  As I chopped the each next ingredient, I let the previously added ingredient(s) cook.

To a pot over a high flame, I added:

1 Quart [box]  – low sodium chicken stock

20  – baby carrots, chopped into bite size/spoon size pieces

½ Cup  – Rhine Wine

7 – scallions/green onions, chopped

1 – medium sweet potato, peeled and cut into small cubes

2oz (weight when dry) barley – rinsed and cooked per package directions

Before I added the next ingredients I let the pot come to a boil and then reduced pot to simmer.

palmful of garlic powder

1/2 tsp – ginger powder

1/4  tsp – curry powder

1/4 tsp – red pepper flakes (optional)

1 (15.5oz) can small white beans, rinsed

1 Cup – frozen edamame

1 packet of ramen, noodle brick broken into quarters (do not use flavor packet)

I returned the pot to a boil and cooked the ramen noodles, stirring frequently.

When noodles were done, the soup was ready to eat.

The end result was light, bright and full of flavors that I like, plus vitamins and nutrients.  It was “fun” to eat because of the noodles and the colors and of course it was very filling and warming on an unseasonably chilly night.

Some possible variations:

– skip the wine

– swap a regular potato for the sweet potato

– swap peas for the edamame

– swap vegetable stock for the chicken stock