Soup: It's What's for Lunch

In scanning Louise's cookbook contest, I noticed that there's a category called, "Eat Better, Eat Together Month". That suits my philosophy to a Tee.

Breakfast and lunch are kind of a free-for-all in my house. I feed breakfast to Ryan and Mark before school, but lunch is up to them. It's my way of creating a little bit of food independence in them. However, dinner is non-negotiable. If you live in my house (as either a household member or a transient guest), you will sit down to eat with the family, and you will eat what I serve, and you will like it. The evening meal is run by a benevolent dictator.

And, of late, my dearly beloved has been getting the same kind of treatment for lunch. He "forgets" to eat. He "doesn't want" lunch. And, of course, a man who just forgets to eat can also lose 5 pounds a week (ladies, we all have permission to hate him for that). So, this chilly weather is just the thing to permit me to force him to "Eat Better, Eat Together...." Eat Soup. This is an adaptation of fast soup recipes from various and sundry cookbooks, but mostly, it's a good way to make a great lunch out of tiny amounts of leftover food that would otherwise be wasted.

FAST BEEF BASED SOUP

For Each cup of soup:

1 tsp beef base or 1 bouillon cube
2 tbsp cooked rice
2 tbsp mushrooms (fresh or canned)
2 tbsp canned diced tomatoes
1 tbsp chopped scallions
boiling water

Put the rice, mushrooms, and tomatoes in your soup cup, and microwave it for about 90 seconds (2 minutes for 2 cups). Meanwhile, boil your water. When the rice mix is hot, out the spoon containing the beef base into the cup, on top of the rice mix, and pour boiling water over it. Stir until the beef base is dissolved. Add the scallions, let it sit for a minute, and serve with some crackers or a roll. Share the second cup with someone you love; you'll enjoy it so much more.

You can also follow this recipe to make soup to put in your thermos. It will cheer you up at lunchtime at work, I promise!