She Serves Soup- The Plan

I love soup. For me, soup is not just an appetizer, and it certainly is not something that's only served in the winter. Year round, I enjoy soups, stews, and chilis. Soups provide the nearly perfect meal for me--- my kind of soups are heavy on the veggies, vegan, and often include beans, grains, or some hearty addition to make it a meal. Although I have a few favorite go-to soup recipes, I am always on the lookout for more.

This past fall I have not had as much time for cooking as I have had in the past. Balancing a full time job, PhD classes, and time with my family (cat, Basmati; dog, Ghirardelli ('Delli'); & husband, Mike) has taken its toll on my kitchen time! Nevertheless, I am committed to keeping my cooking going during this busy time. To do so, I have devised a contest of sorts for myself. I like structure, challenges, and games... which is why I am going to serve 50 different soups in 2012.

Each week (with 2 byes), I will make a new soup recipe. If I miss a week I can 'make it up' the next week by doubling up and making 2 recipes the week following. I'll be open to drawing from my existing recipes that are tried and true, but will not duplicate a recipe within the year. I'll use my existing cookbooks, online websites, books borrowed from the library, and possibly acquire a few new cookbooks along the way too. Each soup will be vegan. My intent is not to create new recipes (though I won't rule out that possibility altogether...), but rather to review recipes and enjoy the variety that I'll surely experience. I'll post my progress, complete with my reviews and recipes here (giving credit to the authors/original chefs). She Serves Soup will be a place for me to hold myself accountable to my goal, and for friends and family to check in on me and read my reviews. I'll have fun with the cooking-- and the blogging too, and ensure that I keep on cooking despite my hectic schedule.

When I'm done? Well, then I'll have quite the array of recipes for my favorite food. But back to the game aspect of all of this... a good game/contest (even with yourself...) has a good prize to reward the winner. As such, at the end of 2012, assuming that I have successfully completed the project, I (or someone who loves me very much) will buy me either new dishes (with wonderful soup bowls of course), a nice new soup pot, or some other extravagant soup-related kitchen item. Who knows... with all this soup cooking I just may discover some 'must have' soup gadget or kitchen item that would make a suitable prize.