Excellent Soup from Frozen Veggies

This weekend I made the best soup.  I usually have a hard time getting soup to have a good flavor - I keep adding herbs and adding herbs.  This weekend I think I found the right combination.  I used ground pork from Farmer Nick's LLC, my own home-made (and frozen for later use) chicken broth, and all of our own frozen veggies and herbs.

Here is the recipe I used, in true food saver fashion - there's no true measurements I can give you, just approximations.

Ingredients:
1 shallot, chopped
1/4 quart bag of frozen sliced carrots (thawed)
1/8 quart bag of frozen chopped celery (thawed)
1/2 pound ground pork
1 large garlic clove, chopped
1 ice cube of chopped arugula
2 ice cubes of chopped basil & garlic
1/8 quart bag of frozen chopped chives
4 cups chicken broth
1/2 quart bag of frozen haricots verts, chopped
1/4 quart bag of frozen summer squash
heavy whipping cream
salt to taste

Use a little olive oil in a soup pot and cook the shallot, carrots and celery until the shallot is translucent.  Add the port and garlic and cook until the pork is done.  Add chicken broth, and the 3 cubes of herbs.  Then add the haricots verts and summer squash.  Cook until everything is hot and salt to taste.  Then spoon out the veggies and put in the blender with some whipping cream.  Add back into the broth - heat more and serve.

I was amazed by how good this soup tasted, right away, without any additional fussing.

Here's how you make the basil and garlic ice cubes and the arugula ice cubes.  When you have your harvest of basil (late summer in IL) or your harvest of arugula (twice in IL - spring and fall), pick a bunch and store for winter by simply adding hand-fulls to the cuisineart along with a small portion of olive oil.  Add garlic if you want (I usually add garlic to the basil, it serves as a one-stop shop to defrost and serve on pizza or pasta that way) but you don't have to.  The key is not to add too much olive oil - just enough so the herbs chop up and stick together well.  Pack into ice cube trays, cover with foil and freeze overnight.  The next day, take the cubes out of the trays and put in plastic freezer bags and store.  Super easy, and you have the taste of fresh herbs all winter long.

Arugula and basil/garlic cubes: