Garden Vegetable Soup

This garden vegetable soup recipe is perfect for any time of the year. It is so healthy and tastes so good with fresh vegetables from your own garden.

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Garden Vegetable Soup

This garden vegetable soup is another recipe that has been in my family for over 50 years. My mom used to make it for me when I was a kid. I loved it so much that I decided to keep up the tradition and make it for my family. It tastes so good that I love to have it year around. I mean it is perfect for a cold winter night. However, it is also great to have on a summer evening too.

From the Garden

This hearty garden vegetable soup is one of those recipes that I can almost get most of the ingredients from the garden. I have made this soup with homegrown potatoes, carrots, onions, and tomatoes.  You can learn how to grow your own potatoes, carrots, onions, and tomatoes by checking out all the posts we have.

I always love it when almost everything in the recipe comes straight from my own garden. The ingredients had to only travel 20 feet from when it was picked and into my kitchen. Of course the timing doesn’t always work out right and I use my own homegrown canned tomatoes but still, it came from my own garden.

I love knowing that I grew my own food and was able to put together a yummy recipe from the garden. It is a very fulfilling feeling to know all the hard work you put into a backyard garden from planting, watering and weeding is now giving you food to put on the table.  Garden to the table, it is the only way to go. It tastes amazing and so fresh.

Hearty Healthy soup

Not only does this hearty garden vegetable soup taste delicious it is really healthy. I have changed the recipe from its original recipe to make it more healthy and to fit our whole food plant-based lifestyle. We don’t eat meat or dairy anymore so I had to modify this recipe to make it more healthy. I took the hamburger out of this recipe and we don’t sprinkle cheese on top of the soup anymore. However, if you want the original recipe you can find it here. It tastes just as good if not better without the meat and cheese.  I added lentils as a replacement for the hamburger and it tasted great!  It has so many yummy vegetables in it, there is no need to feel guilty having seconds on this recipe. I just love a hearty healthy soup like this.

Easy Recipe

This soup is really easy to make. It takes a little time to peel and cut the potatoes and cut the carrots and onions. However, really that is the only thing that takes a lot of time. The rest of the work for this yummy hearty garden vegetable soup is so simple. It only requires adding and stirring together. The soup can be made in a stock pot and cooked on the stovetop or you can make it earlier in the day and put in a slow cooker.

 Garden Vegetable Soup Recipe

1 c. cooked lentils (optional)
½ chopped onions
2-3 cups potatoes
1 cup carrots cut in rounds
1/2 cup celery (Swiss chard stalks are also a good substitute)
1 quart (32 oz) stewed tomatoes
1 small bay leaf
½ teaspoon dry thyme
¼ teaspoon basil
3 teaspoons salt
⅛ teaspoon pepper
6 cups of water

Other things you can add include kale, spinach, zucchini or yellow squash, peas, or pasta.

Directions

Measure 6 cups of hot water and add the quart of frozen, fresh or canned tomatoes.  Stir together in a stockpot or slow cooker. Peel and cut the potatoes and carrots on a cutting board and add to the pot. Chop the onions and celery and add to the pot. Next, add the spices and mix together and then add the bay leaf to the top of the soup. Cover with a lid and bring to a boil and then simmer for 60 minutes in a stock pot on the stove.

When using a slow cooker for this recipe, follow the directions above and just add to your slow cooker pot and then cover and cook on high for 7 to 8 hours.

Wait to add the kale spinach, or squash until the end. If you do add pasta cook it first separately and add after the soup is done. When using lentils, I cook them first and add them at the end. You can add them at the beginning but because this soup cooks a long time your soup may end up a stew because the lentils will be overcooked and disintegrate into the soup and make it thick.

I hope you enjoy this healthy Garden vegetable soup as much as I do.  Hopefully, it will soon become a recipe you are handing down to your kids too!