Simple Soup for a Busy Day

Long time, no post.

Sorry. With one kid in 5th grade (looking for a good Middle School), one in 8th (looking at High Schools) and one in 2nd (just being a 2nd-grader, but, really, that's enough), two of whom are musicians and the third a ballerina...well, the joint is jumping here in Sunny So-Cal. (Yeah, it is sunny, even in the Winter.)

Top that all off we a recent trip to Montana for the holidays, then a bout with some miserable intestinal malady, and follow it all up with a sinus infection for daughter #1, and you'll have a rough idea of how our last couple of months have been.

So, a couple of nights ago, I happened to look up and think to myself (as I often do), "Oh, that's right ~ dinner! I have to cook that."

It was late, I was tired. Nobody felt like eating anything heavy. But I did have a package of Trader Joe's Thai Vegetable Gyoza (pot stickers) in the freezer.

Here's what I did:

Bring to boil:
2 qts. water
1 TBS (or more, to taste) vegetarian boullion of your choice
3 nice, thick slices from a large onion
1 rib of celery, sliced

Season to taste with soy sauce, a dash or two of seasoned rice wine vinegar and a pinch of Chinese Five Spice seasoning.

Add 2-3 cups frozen mixed vegetables (I used an organic frozen vegetable mix that I had on hand)

Bring back up to a boil. Reduce to simmer and cook for about 10 minutes. Add the frozen pot stickers and simmer just until they are hot through.

Tada!

Soup.

I found it was fairly important to eat this right away, before the pot stickers could get mushy. Otherwise, I highly recommend fishing out the pot stickers and setting them on a plate, instead of leaving them in the broth. I suppose you could cook them separately, and then just spoon the soup over them in your bowl, but my method was quick and easy, and dirtied only one pan.

We'd had a fairly protein-heavy day, so I didn't think it was necessary to add anything else this time. However, I think some cubed tofu or a handful or two of edamame would be nice. Also, I am sure the addition of other, more interesting vegetables (and fresh, rather than frozen, too) would be make it even better, but I was going for quick and simple.

My apologies for the lack of pictures this time. If you want, one of you can make it and take a picture. Then you can show us all how lovely it was :)