Pantry Soup

What shall I write about today?

While I love food, I spend the day in a kitchen, serving State employees the comforting, familiar foods they crave. However, when I get home, quite often, I find myself unwilling to even think about food. And, lately, with my own personal economy in flux, I spend a great deal of time figuring out things to make from the remnants of prior shopping trips that remain in my pantry and fridge.

As most of you have guessed already, the answer is usually Pantry Soup. Most recently, it comprised a basic chicken stock, with a touch of Chinese chili paste, a can of diced tomatoes, some frozen green beans and broccoli, spiced up with a variety of things from my spice cupboard. I threw in some white rice, and at the end, thickened it and added protein with several eggs, scrambled, and slowly added to the soup. I stirred in a touch of butter to my portion and it was delicious. Not at all fancy or gourmet, but hearty, filling, fairly low calorie, and containing all the important food groups. I would have loved to eat it over a thick slice of baguette, toasted to buttery perfection with a touch of garlic. What a wonderful meal that would have been.