Soup: A Celebration of 2000 Pageviews

So I have come to you today to invite you to celebrate my 2000th pageview (exactly 100 pageviews late, but who's counting, right?) with me.

So what am I giving back this time?

I considered a feature. I really did. But somehow, it just didn't seem right, especially since my 1000th pageview journal was all about the features.

I considered putting up a fantastic, amazing work of art. But I was hungry. I needed some food. And it was interfering with my creative flow.

To the kitchen I went! I had just made minestrone soup the other day, and I wasn't up for the same soup twice in a row, but I did want soup, and it needed to be filling. So minestrone it was. But how to make it different?

With SWEET POTATOES! Yes! It was a stroke of brilliance from the good people at allrecipes.com that gave me the inspiration. However, the recipe's ingredients looked decidedly disappointing, so I decided to do things my own way. So away I went, chopping, peeling, tossing, boiling, simmering, shaking, stirring, and eventually I came up with a soup that I do have to say is quite amazing.

So what does this have to do with my 2000th pageview? Well, I'm going to give you something you can use. You get to have my recipe.

Now, before you go all bawing on me and say, "But Ashley, I don't LIKE soup!" or "Ashley, minestrone is terrible!" or "What on earth could you possibly do to make a unique minestrone?", I encourage you to at least look at the ingredients and revel in their delicious chaotic-ness. This ain't your average minestrone; this is a one-of-a-kind, tantalizing, fantastic minestrone soup! I will even go so far as to call it a work of art. Yes, that's right. ART. Delicious, edible art.

To put you in the mood, I have selected a few choice deviations featuring the ingredients we will be using:

Part One Ingredients

2 peeled and diced
2 peeled and chopped
2 stalks chopped

Part Two Ingredients
2 diced
1 :thumb106033792: diced (frog optional, FRESHNESS NOT)
1 (but please used diced, not crushed tomatoes, and don't drain)
1 can drained and rinsed cannelini beans (the white version of :thumb15724527: )
1 1/2 tbsp Better than Boullion veggie bouillon (or to taste)
1/4 tsp (if you can find powdered nutmeg, that's even better, but wolves seem to be easier to find around here)
1/4 tsp (again, powdered ginger is preferable to redheaded girl, but you can work with what you've got)
2 tbsp (maple syrup)
1 heaping tbsp dried
1 heaping tbsp dried

Part Three Ingredients
2-3 large handfuls of fresh

Directions

1. Boil part one ingredients in 4 cups or so of water for 20 minutes.
2. Add part two ingredients. With the spices, bouillon, and syrup, make sure you test the broth as you add them and adjust the amounts to your taste. Simmer 10 minutes.
3. Add part three ingredients. Simmer another 10 minutes. Great on its own or with some fresh bread.

That's it! I hope you guys find this useful, and thanks for everything!