simple clean eating soup: bone broth + trader joe's healthy 8 chopped veggie mix

Wow, after a whirlwind two-week school break, and a lot of restaurant meals {achem… and fruity, frozen drinks}, I am ready to dial things back a bit. Don't get me wrong, I love it when someone else cooks for me. But, about this time each year I start to crave simpler meals. Recipes that take just a few minutes to make. Ones where veggies or some lean protein are the highlight.

Easy is key. And not just because today I don't have time to cook because I am picking one of my children's "airport treat" pack of Trident bubblegum off of an entire load of vacation laundry… don't get me started. Anyway, today I wanted-- and needed-- a quick quick quick and easy lunch. It's still pretty chilly here in CT, so soup sounded good. And in that department, I have a two-ingredient fav...

If you've been following me for a while, you know I am a big fan of bone broth. And, hopefully, you have some of your own kicking around your freezer. You do? Good. Recipe here, if you don't already have it.

Simple Clean Eating Veggie Soup
(makes about 8 cups)

1 quart (or two pints) homemade bone broth  
one 16 oz tub Trader Joe's Healthy 8 Chopped Veggie Mix*

In a soup pot, warm the bone broth and veggies until veggies are desired doneness. I take my broth straight out of the freezer, and it thaws while my veggies are cooking, so the whole process takes about 10-15 minutes. Enjoy warm with some good fat, like a little handful of nuts, for a complete "clean" meal. 

* If you're not near a Trader Joe's you can, of course, make your own 1 lb batch of chopped mixed veggies… but I'm a big fan of having someone else do the chopping for me, in this case. If you want to mimic the above mix, it's a combination of broccoli, carrots, green cabbage, red cabbage, jicama, green bell pepper, celery and radishes.

The red cabbage in that TJ's chopped veggie mix turns your broth a brilliant fushia… be sure to get all that bone broth goodness down the hatch. If no one is looking, it's perfectly appropriate to use a straw….