Loaded Alphabet Soup

Snow day here! So here's a soup recipe! Right? 

It's been so long since I've posted. But here I am! Might get another one ready for posting, too, before I get up from my perch here on the couch, watching the snow fall and not worrying about driving on the roads. 

I used to love a snow day as I would spend the majority of it getting caught up on life and work. I'd have a ton of things accomplished by the end of the day, as with my insane work ethic ingrained in me by my parents - never let a moment be wasted. So, I struggle now with snow days. Making the call for the school is tough on it's own at 6am. But, then there's the struggle with what I do during the day. Do I sleep in because I'm pretty much exhausted all the time? Do I get up and try to get caught up on emails and to do lists? Do I cozy up on the couch with Hannah for some Paw Patrol and play dough because I work so much that I don't get to spend as much time with her anymore? Do I catch up on my hobbies, like food blog posts and cooking and dog walks? Do I clean the house, like deeper clean than the quick vacuum and wipe down it gets on the weekends? Do I catch up with friends I rarely see? Or do I just not care and do whatever when the moment strikes? (Not in my personality capacity to do whatever so that's it's own special kind of struggle!)

It's a thing.

But, I've decided to just take the day and do what I can, a little bit of everything as they are all important. So to start - a post for you! A delicious, hearty, flavourful and kid-loved soup that Hannah devours. Now, we know she's a soup girl and loves most soups, but this one really strikes up great conversation at the dinner table. It's loaded with veggies, which she's becoming a little pickier about recently, but she's so busy chatting about finding her letter and daddy's letter, she's just scooping mouthfuls of carrots and turnips into her mouth without a beat. 

So, enjoy! 

Loaded Alphabet Soup

Total time: 30 min

Ingredients:
drizzle of oil or splash of water
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 carrots, chopped small
1-2 celery stalks, chopped small
1/2 cup chopped turnip, chopped small
1 can diced tomatoes
2-4 cups vegetable stock
1 tbsp oregano
1 tbsp basil
1 tbsp summer savoury
1/4 tsp hot pepper flakes
1 tsp paprika
1 tbsp honey
1/2 box of alphabet noodles (I seriously just find them in any grocery store)
2-3 handful of kale, chopped 
1 can chickpeas, rinsed
Sea salt/pepper to taste

What to do:

1) In a large pot or dutch oven, add oil or water and heat on medium. Add onion and garlic until things start to smell good, about 5 minutes, stirring often. I often wait until I hear Lee say, "Mmmm, that smells good, what are you cooking?" And I reply, "Your favourite, onions and garlic" :) I swear, every time. 

2) Add in carrots, celery and turnip, as well as a small sprinkle of salt/pepper. Cook, stirring often, for another 5 minutes or so until browning starts to happen and it looks delicious.  

3) Add tomatoes, vegetable stock, spices, and honey. Stir and bring to a boil. Let boil for another 5-7-ish minutes until turnip starts to soften a bit.

4) Add in noodles and kale, continue boiling for another 5-6 minutes, STIRRING OFTEN so the noodles don't stick to the bottom. Careful not to cook the noodles fully or they will get gross and mushy as they will continue cooking on their own once you turn heat to low. 

5) Reduce heat to low, add in chickpeas, more salt/pepper to taste and let sit for about 10 minutes to let the flavours grow. Serve up with a delicious piece of crusty bread or crackers and enjoy finding the letters in your soup!