Cream of Yuck Soup

I should know better than to serve vegan dishes to my family and expect them to like it. But, ever the optimist, I'll keep trying until I find something they like.

Today I made a vegan vegetable soup, starting with the basic aromatics (celery, carrots, and onions). My husband came over and asked, "Is there any meat in this?" and I said, "No, ha-ha!" Then he saw all the celery and said that he wouldn't eat it. I told him that he'd eaten lots of dishes I'd cooked using celery and he'd never even known it. He retorted that he was just being polite. Touché.

After the aromatics were cooked, I added other vegetables and a broth that came from boiling some lentils a while back. After it was done, I puréed it with an immersion blender.

To counter the whole vegan thing I made toasted ham sandwiches on a focaccia I had made two days earlier. Something for everyone, right?

Wrong. While Mike, my husband, ate his sandwich, the boys, Henry and Jack, both hardly touched their food.

Once again, I thought my cooking was dynamite. I'll keep trying to bring my family around.

Cream of Yuck Soup
2 T olive oil
2 stalks celery, diced
1 carrot, diced
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
4 c. broth (I used water left over after boiling some lentils)
1 can cannellini, drained and rinsed
1 can diced tomatoes and liquid
1 tomato can water
1 T. dried basil
salt and pepper

Heat olive oil in a large soup pot or Dutch oven. When it is hot, add the celery, carrot, onion, and garlic. After the onions become translucent, add the bell pepper. Let that cook for a couple of minutes until the pepper softens. Then add the broth, cannellini, tomatoes and liquid, water, basil, salt, and pepper. Turn off the heat when it comes to a boil, then use an immersion blender to purée the soup. If you don't have an immersion blender, then you can purée it in batches in a regular blender. Serve with a smile and let those compliments roll in!