Vegetable Soup Blend
Seven vegetables, already dried and ready to go, so a pot of real vegetable soup is about twenty minutes away on any weeknight.
What It Is
This blend combines potatoes, carrots, onion, tomato, parsley, spinach, and bell peppers, all dried so the water is gone but the flavor stays behind. Drying concentrates the sugars in the carrots and tomatoes and gives the whole pot a deeper, slightly sweet base than fresh vegetables sometimes manage mid-winter.
Because everything is cut and dried together, the pieces are sized to rehydrate at roughly the same rate. That means no fishing out mushy spinach while the potatoes are still hard. It is a working blend, not a decorative one.
What To Do
Bring a pot of broth, water, or a mix of both to a boil, add a generous handful or two of the blend per serving, and simmer until the vegetables are tender, usually fifteen to twenty minutes. Season with salt, pepper, garlic, and whatever herbs you like. A splash of canned tomatoes or a parmesan rind in the pot makes it feel like you cooked all day.
It also works well in slow cookers, added dry at the start with enough liquid to cover. Store in a cool, dry spot and it will keep for months.
