Soup Making Style

Chicken soup has become a bit of a "staple" of mine to make. So has beef vegetable. And black bean soup too. Well, actually, I've only made the latter once, although it turned out quite well & I intend to add it to my "soups" repertoire.

It seems entirely incidental, however, as it's hardly been any time since I first "figured out" how to cook a chicken, then to include the other add-ins making for an actual soup. Not long after I cooked my first chicken or two, I found myself with a spare day & ended up cooking two whole chickens. It seemed so simple & a great way to prepare some quick protein for a little bit of money.

It also made for a good chuckle since I'd hardly owned one of these for long. Having it around makes for a much more pleasant experience when it comes time to cook a chicken & make the soup. I'm aware that there are other ways to prepare chickens too, 😜😋 though I believe I've a bit of a ways to go before I get that bored with what I've been doing & finally get around to switching it up. 😂

What I've decided thus far is that, at the rate I'm going, I should get one of these; it's bigger. I've a tendency to have my broth near overflowing. That's bad. 😎😉 & a great inconvenience. 😏

Soup has so many benefits. Broth is a natural medicine. I've been excited this whole time that I've finally figured out the soup making process; I'm randomly attempting different versions & styles of soup.

It might've been a decade ago when Mom was finally getting around to walking me through the process of "how to make soup", though things were going on all around us, which kept me from the kitchen, & therefore, when the recipe had finished, as we sat consuming the soup, I noted aloud I'd no real notion of exactly what all had gone into actually making the soup that day; I'd not really learned the process.

I'm grateful now that it does mostly make sense. I understand about adding more water depending on serving size (or richness of the broth). I understand about lowering the temperature in a slow cooker style, for additional cooking of the foods into the broth & general softening & tenderizing. I'm grateful to finally comprehend "sweating" & that, basically dumping spices & seasonings into water along with random food, isn't the key to developing a broth or a soup. 😝😂 (This is a reality I learned from an online group where I decided to openly asked simply because I didn't know any better, & I wanted to figure this whole "soup making thing" out & then found that I was somewhat defending myself to these very helpful cooks, though none were interrogating or demeaning me, responding that I've been quite familiar with how to bake in these; that I do know my way around a kitchen. I truly felt rather silly.)

It's only been the chicken & beef vegetable soup that I've made in this. The black bean soup for which I gave a whirl happened to be a small enough recipe for one of these. I'd been a huge fan of beans, specifically various dry beans; the kind that come in the one pound plastic bags. I used to make them, spread out along the base of an elongated slow cooker with an inch or so of water covering them; they turned out great that way. It was happenchance that I found my way to them at the time, & I'm not even exactly sure at what time of year I'd enjoyed them when I did.

What I'm thankful to have recently learned is that beans, specifically the black beans, are chalked full of Vitamin D, a vitamin many folks residing in the Northern Hemisphere tend to lack come this time of the year (the dreaded "Standard Time"), making cooking up lots of bean dishes a seemingly good, very fiber filling, as well as tasty, meal.

And here I sit, with a bowl of black bean soup, next to my laptop as I type, along with an avocado diced up into the soup, & a heavy spoonful of salsa atop that too. Avocado & black beans: very delicious & very filling. 😋😉😁



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