"Hope Soup"

It's starting to get a little hot around here to be making soup, but I'd like to share a concept with you. I cannot stress the importance of a well-stocked pantry. Mine is almost always filled with chicken/beef stock, canned or dry beans of many varieties, canned tomatoes, canned corn, spices, pasta, etc. All of the ingredients just mentioned are a great base for a soup, don't you think?! For a while now, when we are having the kind of week that requires a lot of meal creativity (Well, maybe I should just say "when you have a week with next to no money to spend..."), I'll throw together what my husband and I affectionately call "Hope Soup." Here is my recipe for "Hope Soup" :

Throw whatever you find in your pantry/fridge/freezer in a pot/crockpot and HOPE it turns out!

It's actually a lot of fun to do! We had "Hope Soup" last night for dinner and it turned out great. Here's what I had in the house already:

A large ham bone with a little meat on it (I froze it after our Easter dinner)
1 can of kidney beans
1 can of great northern beans
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 can of corn
frozen petite peas
bouillon cubes
garlic
onion
salt & pepper
hot sauce

Here's what I had to buy:

1 small head of cabbage
a little extra ham to dice up

How cool is that?! So I took my frozen ham bone and boiled it in some water in my soup pot to make a flavorful stock. I removed the ham bone, added onion, garlic, bouillon, and s&p and brought it to a boil so the onions could get tender. Then I added the beans, tomatoes, corn, and ham chunks. Just 5 minutes before serving, I added the peas and cabbage because I like the texture better when those things are not over-cooked. We added hot sauce to our bowls at the table.

"Hope Soup" is a great, budget friendly dinner. And it will feed an army! I hope you guys will try to be creative with what you have in you cupboards and refrigerators: again, this soup is a concept. Do not take my idea above too seriously. You only have a pound of ground meat? Great! Brown it up and use beef stock for the soup base. You grow zucchini? Use it! You have celery and carrots? Throw that in! No diced tomatoes, but you have salsa? "Fiesta Hope Soup!" YEEEHAW!!! Add some ground cumin to that to bump up the Mexican flavors.

"Hope" you guys try this!