Green Veggie Soup: a healthy dinner that our daughters actually ask for

Tonight's dinner, Green Soup. Seriously, that's what we call it. My daughters fell in love with this a few years back and, every time we had it, they'd call it Green Soup, so the name stuck. It's a variation of something that my mother in law found back in the early 80's, she seems to remember that it was originally a Weight Watchers recipe. But, like all recipes, I couldn't leave well enough alone so I've tweaked it a bit. Basically it's a bunch of veggies, bouillon cubes, water, V8 and a few spices making it one of those things that is good and good for you -- the worst thing about this is that it's got quite a bit of sodium.

So, here's the recipe...

A few tbsps of olive oil

1 medium to large sized onion, chopped

4-5 cloves of garlic, crushed and chopped

1 small bunch of carrots, chopped

1 head cauliflower, chopped

1/2 of a Butternut squash, that's what I use but you can use whichever squash that you prefer

6 cups of water or enough to slightly cover the veggies.

6 cubes chicken bouillon, use Certified Organic if you can find it

1-2 Tbsps dried herbs, I normally use Basil and Oregano

2-3 generous handfuls of fresh spinach

1 package of soft or silken tofu

1 48oz container of V8, I use low sodium

Start by chopping up all the veggies, I like to cut them up as small as possible without going crazy. Then, in a soup pot, add the olive oil and cook the onions until soft. Add the garlic and let it cook for a minute or so and then add the carrots, cauliflower and squash. Stirring occasionally, let 'em cook for a few minutes and then add the water, bouillon and herbs. Bring to a boil, bring down the heat and let it simmer until the vegetables are soft, usually about a half hour or so. Add the spinach and tofu and cook until the spinach wilts. Then, puree the mixture. I have a hand blender that works great but you can also, working in small batches, use a standard blender -- it's pretty hot though so be careful. When it's puree'd, add the V8. warm up a bit and serve and enjoy! I like to add a bit of hot sauce to the soup but then I add hot sauce to just about everything.