always onion....mostly always garlic, very often tomato and rutabega for a mixed veggie soup.
But soup can have a theme....like all green....ham bone cooked up with onion and garlic and then every green veggie in the leftovers bag added....green beans, broccoli, peas lima beans, spinach zuchinni etc..
Then another time it was red....red onions and broth...think it was chicken, beets, carrots, kidney beans and red cabbage.....
Just remember....onion and garlic....always!
And if you soup seems to be missing something....add half a lemon while it simmers.
Linda C

My must have is that at least half of the liquid must be homemade chicken broth, and the rest water. I would include onion, celery, carrot and garlic as well as some diced potato, green beans or peas. I love plenty of thyme and a little fresh bay leaf, fresh ground black pepper and yes sometimes a little Worcestershire sauce. It varies each time, and sometimes includes a handful of lentils and a smokey ham bone or smoked pork chop.

SharonCb

a nice meaty ham bone (I bake a ham, just so I'll be able to make soup.) But that doesn't use up your veggies, but in the summer, I do use fresh tomatoes, fresh okra, fresh corn and fresh baby limas.

Since I have two fussy eaters in my house, I must control two things of my soup: 1)flavor and 2) texture.

For flavor, I usually used leftover bones i.e. ham, chicken, turkey... When I cut up ham and chicken, I always pack bones with a bit of meat in one serving size bags. Leave them in the freezer and take one out at a time. Since I usually make soup in my crock pot, I don't bother thawing them out. Just put the chunk of bone/meat straight into the crock pot and cook away. If I don't have any frozen leftovers in the freezer I use butter or cream to add fat into the soup. A little fat goes a long way.

For texture, I use root type of vegetables or legumes as base. Potatoes, rutabaga, carrots, turnips, lentil, chickpeas etc all work very well. Cauliflower is also a very good choice when it comes to creating creamy texture and increasing volume. Everything else can be added on top of the starch base. Once the soup is done, I fish out the meat/bones etc then puree everything until creamy. As long as they don't see any signs of vegetables, the two boys will eat up.

Oh, for the finish touch, I always keep sour cream, yogurt, fresh parsley and/or cilantro handy for garnishing purpose.

Al

V8 & sauteed onions

Doesn;t matter if it is low sodium, regular or spicy. I always crack open a 12 oz can of V8 to put in my veg soup.

Alexa

Must haves? Onions. And good broth/stock.

Process is also important in how I make soups. I always sautee the veggies for 5-10 minutes in some olive oil before adding any broth, meat, beans, etc.

/tricia

It really depends on the soup I'm making, but I'd say 99% of mine have oinions, minced celery and garlic, which I saute separately until lightly caramelized. I also use bay leaves a lot, espeically with beef or pork brothed soups. Thyme works well in most soups. In heavier soups that have tomoates, I tend to use canned fire roasted tomoatoes rather than try to get any flavor out of raw tomatoes. (In summer, when I can get my hands on "real" tomatoes at the farmers' markets, I'll use fresh.) Depending on the type of soup, I'll add a spash of vermouth, sherry, wine or lemon (usually for lentil soups) near the end.

It's easier to say what I avoid. I find green peppers and brocoli added too soon will impart a bitter flavor. And while okra imparts a nice flavor when used sparingly, I cannot stand the texture of okra in anything, no mattter how finely chopped.

I just made a big crockpot of vegetable beef soup tonight. I love cabbage in soup. I used savoy cabbage this time because I didn't want a big head and the only small cabbages were savoy. It gives structure but melts into the background at the same time.

Salt. No matter how low sodium you try to go, you have to have salt.

seagrass

Beef stock, chicken/turkey stock, pork stock, and clam juice. They all make wonderful soups.

Of course having a pressure cooker make it very easy to make stock.

I also like muchrooms in soup.

dcarch

Thank you all so much. I am so happy to see all the answers, so far. Fortunately onions and celery are always around, so they will definitely be included.

Linda and beenthere, thanks for the suggestion about the half a lemon--interesting.

I hadn't thought about saving the bones from whatever meat we're having, but that should be easy enough to do and will add a lot to the soup, I am sure.

Lots of good ideas here. I have never been a big fan of soup, but have recently made my own stock and it makes all the difference--I'm not fond of cans, I guess. Thank you all so much.

Rutabega just always makes it better. Richer seeming, and softer. Whatever that means.

Celery provides enough salt for stock (I prefer to season for table within an hour before plating). Celery also gives a crisp flavor.

I haven't done this lately, but I made a lot of the kind of soups you're talking about, all vegetarian, when I was young and watching my budget. Sometimes the seasonings didn't balance right. I'd throw in a goodly dose of turmeric. I called it my yummyfying powder. It also helped the color if the soup was going a nasty color.

You can also do the ends thing with pots of chili, spaghetti sauce or beans. Just keep adding the vegetables and keep the pot going.

I mainly make chicken stock based soups and never dilute with water. For a vegetable soup I only use a water base and no meat. Lots of celery taste is wonderful in a vegetable soup. For most soups, onions and garlic are a must. If any bell peppers are needed for my soup I add near the end because I don't like mushy peppers. If the soup needs tomatoes I usually use tomato sauce and do not use much because I don't like a tomatoey soup. I never like to find clumps of tomatoes in my soup. Many additions totally depend on the kind of soup you are making. I love cream soups so cream is a necessity. Thyme and bay leaves are a must in many soups. All soup require salt and most require some type of pepper, either black, white or red pepper flakes. Potatoes are good in many soups, yet do not freeze well so I limit soups with potatoes in them. Cilantro goes in at the last minute in several soups.

For my vegetable soup, I like to use chicken stock as the base and add carrots, celery, green pepper, kohlrabi, onion, diced tomatoes and peas (at the very end). I make my vegetable soup the way my Hungarian mom did. We make a rontosh (also known as a roux), cooked to a light brown, add a grated onion and freshly chopped parsley and some Hungarian paprika to make it a beautiful red color, thin it with some soup and then add it all back to the soup. We also always make csipetke for our vegetable soups and our stews, too. They are little pinched noodles that look like spatzle but they are different. (one egg, one cup of flour, 1/2 tsp salt, a little water if needed, kneaded to a stiff dough, not sticky. Let it rest for 30 minutes and then pinch small pinches and add it to your soup or stew).

Hot peppers are my most common vegtable. I grow them in the garden and have potted peppers in the kitchen so some variety. I also like lots of cabbage... which can have "hot" flavor tones. If I use beans/peas/lentils they are dry... much cheaper then cans without the hidden salt.

Grandma's favorite soup trick is a squirt of catsup.

: )
lyra

Welcome to CF Empress! I do just what you're describing usually on Sundays, make a big pot of soup with whatever is left over vegetable-wise in the fridge. Often, it is a minestrone style soup. Lidia Bastianich, one of my favorite italian cooks, says you start a good soup with an italian sofrito, which is onions, garlic, celery and carrots. Also bay leaf and some peppercorns. I use Penzey's Tuscan Sunset italian seasoning, or else their Pasta Sprinkle but any good italian seasoning mix will do in a pinch. And if it is a tomato-based soup broth, I agree with Caliloo, V8 is my secret ingredient to "kick it up a notch." I keep the small cans on hand for just that purpose. Good broth is the key to good soup. I use "Better than Bouillon" paste in my soups, the vegetarian kind, I can't vouch for their others. Of course homeade meat broth made with bones, etc., is good to have on hand but since I hardly ever do anything with meat, I just use veggie broth so I can't advise you on that. I also often make bean based soups which I like to make with dried beans which have the freshest flavor. I soak the bean overnight, rinse and then cook for a couple of hours before adding other flavors. Often times I take some beans out first and freeze at least half the batch before finishing the soup.
Also, a pinch of hot sauce or cayenne is good in soup, as is wine or a tiny dash balsamic vinegar. Pancetta makes a good seasoning for italian style soups but I use either fake vegetarian italian sausage or fake bacon bits.
The most common soups I make are some version of chili, in which case Penzeys Adobo seasoning is my secret ingredient, or else I make some type of simple italian soup, like peas, onion, carrots, celery, pancetta and ditalinni. Bean and greens soup is also another favorite.

I love onion, carrot, celery,, garlic and cabbage in soups. If it needs something still when I have finished making whatever soup, I will add a teaspoon or two of Worchestershire sauce or a teaspoon of soy sauce. Cream of cauliflower or cabbage or cream of carrot soup is wonderful.

Good stock makes the soup. When I'm making stock I use onions, garlic, celery and carrots and for chicken stock, fresh lemon juice, for beef stock, a touch of balsamic vinegar. I think the acid draws the gelation out of the bones. I also roast my bones and veggies before I make the stock. Yum. I freeze the stock in 1 quart contatiners or bags for use later. Once I have a good rich stock I can make a soup out anything left over.

I change it up a lot to keep it interesting. But one of my favorite ingredients that really does make a difference is the use of V8 Juice instead of regular stock. Besides the wonderful flavor you also get an additional vitamin/mineral boost.
I use regular stocks too, and honestly it's hard to go wrong with vegetable soups.

Another way to keep it interesting is to emphasize one particular veggie flavor (like sweet potatoes for instance) and then spice the soup more according to what would enhance that veggie most.

Bulk it up with various kinds of beans, rice or pasta.

Soup has always been one of my and my family's favorite foods. In addition to the above advice like using good stock, here are a few ideas I use.

My secret ingredient in soups with a ham-based broth is a cup of beer or ale added to the cooking liquid. It gives it a little bit of spiciness that isn't readily identifiable.

Celery (with the leaves), onions and fresh parsley are the three vegetables I use most often in soups, followed by carrots. I rarely use garlic in chicken and seafood based soups but use it for beef and vegetable based ones. Broccoli is the one vegetable I don't include in mixed vegetable soups because I think it overpowers the soup. I will use it for cream of broccoli or a broccoli cheddar chowder. I often add barley to vegetable soups to give it a heartier texture because I don't care for the taste of reheated potatoes in soup.

Penzey's Fines Herbes seasoning is compatible with many of the soup varieties I make. I prefer marjoram to thyme in vegetable soups and use a dash of ground coriander in beef of sausage based soups. I usually add two or three cloves to hearty soups like beef vegetable or ones with lots of cabbage. I put them in a tea ball with other ingredients like a bay leaf, quartered garlic clove, etc. For a soup with lots of carrots, I'll put a couple of slices of fresh ginger in the tea ball.

I always have some type of fresh herbs on hand but prefer dried herbs for soup that will simmer for a while since they seem to hold their flavor longer. For soups that require little cooking, I'll use the fresh ones.

Sometimes I'll add a strip of citrus zest to simmer along with the ingredients. It's especially good with soups highlighting asparagus, sugar snap peas or carrots.

One quick and inexpensive way to add vegetable soup to your diet is to mix a 10-oz bag of a partially thawed frozen vegetable, 2 cups of chicken broth, 2 - 4 Tbs. chopped green onions and complementary herbs and spices in a bowl. Transfer in batches to a blender to puree. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve chilled or heat it up. Add yogurt or sour cream if desired. Last week, I made this with green peas, the scallions, fresh mint and celery leaves and heated it in the microwave.

Have fun on your vegetable soup adventures, empress!

For the vegetable soup I make most often, it starts with sauteing onions (no sweet onions) and beef stock. Sometimes I'll use chicken stock if that's what's on hand, but beef is preferred, probably due to the fact that the soup is a off shoot of vegetable beef soup I make with a roast at times.

On vegetables, for some reason, I really like baby butter beans in the soup. I've tried green beans but don't like them as much. And no celery - it's in the stock. Corn and potatoes (even when I'm freezing it), carrots. And sliced okra if it's good.

I also add a small can of tomato sauce because I do like tomatoey flavor in there. A little worcestershire. And in keeping with the lemon, I add lemon juice at the very end of cooking.

Rice gets added as opposed to pasta since pasta can overcook.

As for herbs, always a bay leaf, salt/pepper and sometimes thyme. If I go with any cabbage in the soup I'll add some basil.

FYI for those of you who have Publix, I've started buying their tomato juice instead of V8. Much cheaper and I'm telling you, I can't tell the difference!

Good luck with your soups Empress - keep at it until you find combinations that you like.

Beth

My vegetable soups also vary, depending on what's leftover in the fridge and what vegetables I have that need to be used up. I'm not a huge fan of tomatoes in soup other than tomato soup itself, but I've been known to put in the last of a batch of spaghetti sauce or chili if it's sitting there.

I always have onions in vegetable soup and I like bay leaf, it's my current favorite seasoning. Lots of black pepper too.

Depending on the vegetables the soup might be creamy or it might be chunky. I use barley, lentils or brown rice if I think it needs more "body".

Sometimes I start with chicken or beef stock, sometimes not, depending on what I have and what my mood is. I don't hesitate to clean the freezer either, so any partial bags of frozen vegetables go in too.

Annie

Yes I'm checking back because I make lots of soup and this threads has ideas.

While I agree good meaty broth makes the best soup a very good soup can be made without meat. A couple very small drops of liquid hickory smoke will fill in for meat in bean/pea/lentil soups just fine. If you are not on a calorie reduction diet then a can of coconut milk makes a very interesting lentil soup and coconut juice if you are on a such a diet.

I'm single and work does not always leave me time to roast bones or otherwise prepare a fancy soup. A simple thrown together homemade soup is cheap, low calorie, high fiber, and beats the heck out of anything in a can.

Watch the salt. I'm a certified salt-a-holic but seeing 15,000 mg of salt on a 6lb can of kidney beans changed the way I think about soup. V-8 is great stuff but a regular can has a load of salt. I love salt but prefer it sprinkled on top where I can taste it. My grandparents who were farmers were the only people I know that could eat a totally saltless and spiceless soup. Grandma would boil tomatoes, onions, and cabbage all together and call it kapusta... it was the most awful thing you might feed a kid. Now I love making it but with a hot pepper and some salt. I think the horrible "food" I had as a kid was part of the motivation to cook for myself as an adult.

Chili, I started years ago making the standard thick paste of meat and beans that could be eaten with a fork. As I got older weight became and issue so I thinned it out with more tomato juice. Then I bought a place where I could have a garden and garden veggies started to fall into the pot. These days my "chili" is more of a spicy vegtable soup with cabbage and chunks of summer squash (when I was a kid I wouldn't have touched such an obvious mixture of strange vegtable matter).

My favorite is a fermented barley soup flavored with hops... best served cold ; )

Funny....I thought I was the only one who used V-8 in vegetable soup! LOL

I normally use homemade beef broth and V-8 as my base then add whatever vegetables I have on hand. Thyme and bay are the herbs I isually use for veggie soup, and like the others, (u)always) onions, and garlic.

Linda

chicken stock, bag of dried mixed lentils, beans, barley and pasta, carrots, lettuce, ham, leftover chicken...I often throw in a tsp of liquid crab boil. Gives it a kick, but a multi dimensional one (as compared to cayenne, which, imo, just adds heat).

Jo

Water.

I often use turkey stock because I make gallons of stock with my Thanksgiving and Christmas turkey carcasses and leftover meat. If I don't have any I'll just use some hunks of beef, whether it's plate beef or chuck or whatever. I always start with onions, celery and lots of cabbage. I add a few tomatoes but not enough to make it red. After that I start adding veggies in order of time needed to cook, starting with carrots. I like plenty of carrot in mine. I add everything from yellow squash, zucchini and eggplant to the regular green beans, potatoes, etc. Corn is a favorite and I'll add that at the end since I usually use frozen or canned. Ten minutes before it's done I crunch up a small handfull of fine noodles. The noodles are barely there but it adds a special touch I like.

Like Lars I make my chili more like a veggie soup too. Yellow squash, zucchini and eggplant are usual these days. Tons of beans and diced tomatoes to make a broth not a thick chili. I consider it really good diet food and it impacts my sugar very little. The veggie soup also is great for my sugar.

Sometimes I use orzo in some of my soups such as Navy bean or vegetable soup and it has gone over really well with those who have eaten it. Of course if I'm going to freeze portions I don't add the orzo until I thaw and get ready to heat, then I cook the orzo in the soup.

Beverly

Ha ha, lpinkmountain, thank you so much for the welcome, but I've been a member since 2003 and a lurker even before that. I just mostly lurk, giving my input on rare occasions.

Anyway, I am working overtime this week, so have not had time to really peruse all your suggestions and make notes, but I wanted to be sure you all know how much I appreciate your answers, and I know I will enjoy the results, which will hopefully encourage me to continue this habit.

Thanks again everyone, you always have such great thoughts.

Valerie

I'm another V8 user, although I most often buy the house brand.

We save every scrap, whether it be wing tips or trim from a roast while grinding burger. When one persuasion or another starts to become too much saved, soup is made. Leftover pasta meals become soup, leftover cacciatore becomes soup, left over roast chicken becomes soup.

The one tip I've not seen in this thread is that I roast everything before I toss it into the sock pot. So all the bones, veggies and seasonings/aromatics go into a roasting pan, get tossed with a little oil and then roasted til quite dark. Deglaze the pan and make stock as per usual.

Good additions to the pot: tomato paste, mushroom stems, Parmesan rinds and I'm a big cabbage lover in soup. When I use cabbage I always add some vinegar, make it sort of cabbage roll tasting with the tang.

I sometimes think I only make cabbage rolls to use the busted ones and leftovers for soup!

I like to start my soups by sweating the onion, garlic, and celery or whatever in a saucepan while browning some meat in the soup pot. I especially like to start with browning some Italian Sausage, or bacon and sometimes both. This makes a really flavorful base. Then I deglaze with chicken stock or a little wine, add the cooked onion mixture, then follow with the rest of the ingredients.

A little squeeze of honey.

Like many others have mentioned, a good stock and bay leaves are staples of mine for most soups.

The other thing I do is buy/freeze 1-2 extra sausages of different varieties (italian, kielbasa, cevapcici, chorizo, andouille, etc.) when I'm using them for a meal, then when I want that taste for my soup, I just add a sausage to the pot. Instant added flavor without really turning it into a total meat-based soup.

"A little squeeze of honey."

Giving your honey a little squeeze always improves the soup, and the rest of the evening as well.

Jim

You betcha!

My beer (oops I mean cold fermented barley soup flavored with hops) just went up my nose. LOL!

By the way Lyra, the kapusta comment brought back the memories. For us, any pot of ??? with cabbage in it was called kapusta. And we had that alot.

I'm another V-8 fan. I use a touch of it in both my beef and ham stock based soups.

Soup making is an important part of Chinese cooking. Soup is served with every meal.

You may want to look into it a little; No cream, no butter, no sugar, and with the exception of a couple of recipes, no thickening starch.

dcarch

I have learned I like my soup best if I make the soup using whatever veggies I want and sometimes I throw in rice (even uncooked) with whatever seasonings such as many of you have mentioned above. Cook until done.

Then, I puree the soup and then I sautee chopped onions (sometimes even when I already have onions in the first "phase" of cooking) and fresh mushrooms, sliced. Onions first and I don't caramelize them, just until soft and transparent (first since the mushrooms produce a lot of water) and add this mixture (without pureeing) to the pureed soup, I find it quite delicious.

I think the "umami" taste in the mushrooms really adds a complexity. I don't eat meat so I'm not sure if this works that well with meat. I got this technique from somewhere, can't remember but I think it may have been from Dr. Dean Ornish, the heart doctor or someone promoting health. Since you don't need saturated fat or any other fat (or very little) to make a soup delicious and satisfying if you use this technique.

The other thing I've recently started doing is using soy sauce instead of regular salt. Yes, yes I know that salt can be a problem. Luckily, I have blood pressure on the low side so I don't watch my salt too much. I read that soy sauce also has the "umami" taste that is complex and therefore I have found it wonderful in soup. (for those not familiar with "umami", google will produce a plentitude of results on the subject.)

And one last thing I agree with whoever mentioned about a dash of basalmic vinegar (1 tablespoon or less depending on quantity of soup) seems like almost a secret ingredient. (the lemon may do the same thing) but the vinegar (I'm not sure about the lemon) is best added just before serving, I think it turns too tangy or maybe a tad bitter if cooked a long time, IMO)

And another last thing, another secret ingredient I use is leeks. I know they can be somewhat expensive but they add a natural sweetness that I haven't found with anything else.

And one final last thing (though not exactly on the subject) is this lovely little broth that Mark Bittman from the New York Times posted a while back. I find it nice as something to eat between meals when I'm dieting so that I am satisfied but with relatively few calories. Of course, the salt content is rather high with the soy sauce but quite delicious even though I don't usually like anything with ketchup in it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/25/dining/25mini.html?_r=2&ref=dining

Egg Noodles with Soy Broth
Serves 4

Salt
1/3 cup soy sauce, more to taste
1/3 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar, more to taste
A few drops dark sesame oil
A squirt of sriracha or other Asian chile-garlic sauce
1 pound egg noodles, preferably fresh (I used 9 ounces of fresh angel hair pasta)

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt it. In a smaller pot, bring 6 cups of water to a boil; once boiling, reduce heat so water bubbles gently.

2. To the smaller pot add soy sauce, ketchup, vinegar, sesame oil if using and sriracha or chili, along with a pinch of salt. Stir and let simmer.

3. Add egg noodles to large pot; fresh noodles will be ready in just a couple of minutes; dried will take longer. When tender but not mushy, drain. Taste broth and add more soy, salt, vinegar or heat as you like. Divide noodles into bowls and pour hot broth over all.

Just thought I'd add a few more ideas for broths since that seems to be the heart and soul of soups. I often use the water leftover from either boiling or steaming veggies that will be used for a side dish rather than in soup. It's remarkable how much that process can flavor a 'broth'. So I'm always seeing 'broth' potential when I'm cooking and treat it accordingly.

In fact I've boiled/steamed veggies in a water/chicken broth combo with the intention of keeping it as stock afterwards.

In that same vein, a little apple cider vinegar added to the water that is used to steam/boil/blanch greens (such as collard greens) leaves a nice flavor residue on the greens as well as a nice broth that's delicious in some soups.

Of course I can't save it all, but here's how much I hate to see good veggie nutrients tossed down the drain -
if I don't save the 'broth' after steaming veggies then I pour it on my potted plants after it cools or mix it in my pet's food. I mean SOMEone/thing should benefit!

About salt levels:
To the poster above who commented on the high salt content of V8, you may not realize that it comes in a low sodium variety as well. But there are cheaper or more organic tomato juices that are also delicious as broths. I just happen to enjoy the spices and flavors of V8 and rarely feel the need to add more.
Just heard in the news that the government FDA is going to begin cracking down on the levels of salt used in processed foods by slowly weening us off of it over the next decade or so (rather than doing it cold turkey).

Quote: "Soup making is an important part of Chinese cooking. Soup is served with every meal."

Most Asian cultures have great soups. I read a recipe once that called for using chicken soup stock to make chicken soup stock and was so tickled with it I tried it.

So, into the pot went a boiler fowl, a la Julia and then that poaching water was used in my usual roasted chicken stock...wow!

I crack bones to allow the marrow and natural gelatin to become part of the stock (all those wing tips add it as well) so I'm used to stock becoming jelly like as it cools but this one became almost solid.

The mouth feel was delicious and we used it up without freezing any as it was so good. "Normal" chicken soup, then a pho and lastly in pot pie. Not normal for us to eat the same thing three in a row but we did.

I have to echo what many others have said-- sauteed garlic and onions, and good stock. Sometimes I like a little bit of acid too.