Summer soup!

A nice summer soup can sustain me for a week of lunches. This veggie-packed one is heavy on the cilantro, and the fresh tomatoes are so worth all the chopping. As an afterthought, I added garbanzo beans, and am pleased with myself for thinking of it. They pack protein and taste nice.

Forgive the cop-out recipe, but soup is an art and I have no idea how much of anything I used. Just chop up a few cups of vegetables (potatoes, green beans, onions, squash, or whatever you like) and sautee them in a big soup pot with a little (okay, a lot) of olive oil. Cut up six or seven tomatoes and throw those in. Salt it all, add five or six cups of veggie broth or water (I used potato water left over from boiling potatoes earlier in the week). Bring to a boil, then season with cumin, oregano, and basil. Add garbanzos or other beans. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer for at least 45 minutes (I let mine cook on low all afternoon). Add lots of chopped cilantro in the last ten minutes of cooking. Unless you've never, ever made soup, you know that anything goes... throw in your leftover rice or pasta, use some frozen corn, change up the spices, include whatever vegetables are local and in season. It's hard to make a bad soup, so don't be skittish.