Vegetable Soup

Whats better than a hot bowl of chunky soup. This is best way to eat your vegetables. Kids will love this recipe. The following recipe serves 6.

Ingredients:
5 medium size carrots
1 large tomato
2 medium size zucchini
5 celery stalks
1 cup peas
1 teaspoon tomato paste
3 cups spinach
1 medium size onion
32 fl oz chicken stock (1 box)
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1 bay leaf
5-6 garlic cloves minced finely
14 oz can crushed tomatoes
14 oz can garbanzo peas - strained and run water thoroughly
3 cups water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil

Method:
Heat a big pot on medium high. Add olive oil to the pot. When the oil is hot, add the onions and salt, carrots, celery, zucchini, (garlic, rosemary, parsley and bay leaf - all at once) and tomatoes one after the other with 3 minutes of interval for each ingredient except for the one in brackets. Occasionally stir the vegetables during that interval. Once the tomatoes start to sweat a bit, add chicken stock, water, crushed tomatoes, garbanzo beans and tomato paste and bring it to boil. Once the mixture starts to bubble, add spinach and peas and let it cook for another 1 or 2 minute. Pull out the bay leaf before you serve.

Tips and More:

• Chop and drop. Since it is a one pot meal, the best way to save time is to chop the vegetables when needed instead of preparing them ahead of time (chop onions and add to pot, while onions are cooking, chop carrots, add it to pan and so on).
• Again, instead of garbanzo beans, you can add roasted chicken breast pieces for non vegetarian version of this soup. 
• Add a teaspoon of grated parmesan cheese to each bowl of soup for extra flavor.
• Serve the soup with you favorite bread from your local bakery. Rub a piece of raw garlic on the bread (you can also use roasted garlic cloves), sprinkle it with a teaspoon of parmesan cheese and pop the bread under broiler for a couple of minutes until the cheese is melted and the edges are little browned. By adding bread, you are getting your starch/carbs for that meal.
• If you don't have either the tomato paste or the crushed tomatoes, thats ok too. You could use one of these ingredients. If are using just one of these, use around 3 tablespoons of tomato paste or 16oz crushed tomatoes.