The Kitchen Sink Soup

After the holidays, do you have a ton of leftovers in the fridge.  A ton of foods that don't really make a meal and don't partner well with other things  (turkey, cheeses, mashed potatoes, vegetables, etc. - you get the idea).  I like to freeze anything that is leftover and create interesting soups.  Each item is frozen by itself and marked for easy identification later.

When the time is right and, as my mother in law says:  "when the spirit moves you", I simply gather some packages from the freezer and start a soup.

The base is always the same:  sauteed onions and garlic with a bit of oil and butter and spices (use your imagination); once the onions are opaque, I add the stock (sometimes I make this before hand with leftover bones from the turkey/chicken etc. and other times I freeze the stock too); then I add the assorted contents of the packages - this weekend it was a bag of frozen mushrooms and onions (from a steak dinner this fall), a bunch of green onions (that I froze before they wilted), a bag of assorted veggies left over from a veggie tray and bits of turkey meat from this year's Christmas dinner.  I add various seasonings to taste and once the soup simmers for 20 to 30 minutes (depends on the meat you add and to ensure that it's fully heated) it's ready to be eaten.

As an option, you can also add a starch:  rice (which I sometimes have frozen from a leftover take out dinner) or pasta noodles.  Use your imagination!

Everyone can enjoy a bowl.  And whatever is left over is dished into individual containers and frozen.  My family and friends know exactly where I keep my frozen soup and they help themselves.  It's an easy and delicious way to create a meal in a minute.