This week, I had a lot of vegetables that I needed to use in my freezer, so I decided it was time to pull out my vegetable soup “recipe”. I use the term recipe loosely because essentially, this meal is about having good flavor combinations, and a little bit of imagination.
This time, the ingredients I used were:
Sweet Potato
Potato
Chickpeas
Green onions
Garlic
Parsley
Celery (with the leaves)
Tomato
Capsicum (Red and Green)
Carrot
Zucchini
Spinach
Vegetable Stock
Chilli Flakes
But, this is just what I had on hand – the base elements of this dish are:
Onion Based ingredients (eg. onion, shallots)
Starch-based (eg. potato, pumpkin)
Leaf Based (eg celery)
AND your favorite vegetable flavors!
So how did I do it?
First, I fried off the shallots and the garlic in a pot. Then I added the sweet potato and the celery.
Next, I added the capsicum and the chickpeas, followed by the potato, and any other vegetables, letting each vegetable begin to cook before adding the next.
Once all of the vegetables were in, I left them on a low heat to steam and continue cooking for 15 minutes.
Next, I added the other herbs, spices, and stock, followed by enough water to cover the ingredients completely. I then left it on a low heat to simmer for 2 hours. 
After 2 hours, I checked that the vegetables were soft and could be easily broken with a fork or spoon, and I took it off of the heat for 30 minutes. Once slightly cool, I used a stick blender to break down the vegetables until it reached a soup consistency. As you can see from the final image, I like my soup slightly thicker, but this is completely up to you!
Once the soup is blended, I adjusted the flavor with chili, garlic, and more herbs, based on taste until I was happy. All done!
I was so happy with how it turned out. I know, the final product is a bit, well, brown looking, but the flavor was AMAZING!
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I would love to see your Zero Waste food creations, tell us all about it in the comment, or tag our Minimize The Waste Facebook page in your pictures.
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