A Simple Soup is the Best Alternative
to Fast Food Take-Out
An Article by Marie Simmons

Some evenings getting dinner on the table is more of a challenge than usual. In an attempt to avoid the lure of a fast food pit stop at dinner time I serve a simple soup, salad and bread. Nourishing and filling, it also gives us a chance to sit around the table and enjoy a home cooked, albeit, humble meal at home.

While canned or boxed soups are tempting and convenient, I find convenience comes at a great price: taste.

But, I do compromise. I use canned or boxed broth and add fresh vegetables and seasonings to give the soup that homemade taste. For example in the recipe below I simmer a bag of carrots in prepared chicken broth. To make the soup hearty I add a diced potato, cut green beans, and canned white kidney or cannellini beans.

The curry and ground cumin lean toward the exotic, but, if preferred omit these two seasonings and use a bay leaf, salt and pepper. (Be sure to remove the bay leaf before serving.)

The side dish salad is a free form mixture of coarsely chopped lettuce, red bell pepper and cucumbers. Inspired by a favorite salad of chopped cabbage I decided to use romaine lettuce, instead. But almost any crisp green: iceberg, curly leaf, and of course, cabbage, all work equally well. Substitute green bell pepper, carrots or celery for the cucumber and red bell pepper.

Keep the dessert simple. Fresh grapes are abundant right now with lots of different varieties from which to choose.

Copyright © 2002 by Marie Simmons. All rights reserved. A version of this article originally appeared in the LA Times as a Fresh & Fast column.

Recipes

• Hearty Curried Carrot Soup with Green and White Beans
• Chopped Lettuce, Red Pepper and Cucumber Salad