Work has been crazy lately. I’m a programmer by trade, which can entail late night deployments, production issues and being called in on the weekend. Needless to say, everyone on my team needs a little warmth and comfort right now.
It’s also now officially Fall. The temperatures are starting to drop. Football season is in full swing, baseball season is winding down and hockey season … well, should be, just around the corner. It seemed a perfect time to make a pot of soup — which also seemed a great way to blow off some office steam.
See, our team loves to eat. Every celebration is cause for food. Even Wednesdays have become known as PBW: Peanut Butter Wednesdays, which is exactly what it sounds like — an excuse to gather around our cubes and pig out on peanut butter. We get creative. The pantry is stocked with various nut butters and chocolate spreads — even cookie butter, the best innovation since sliced bread. Candies, crackers, cookies and various other goodies make it into the mix. We then proceed to get our creative juices flowing by combining, spreading and stacking.
I digress!
I took this week’s challenge literally. When we decided we would do a take on the stone soup folk tale, I initially thought making soup at work would be too complicated. Isn’t soup supposed to start with a roux? Simmer on a stovetop in a Dutch oven? Take up a long lazy Sunday?
Turns out, no! With a crock pot and some basics, you can make a comforting soup — even in a cube farm. I told everyone to bring in one or more ingredients; anything to contribute to the community soup.
This could have been very interesting. For most programmers, the higher the stress level, the more our blood is replaced with caffeine, energy drinks and a thick slurry of candy. Which is why a Red Bull-based soup sounded thoroughly divine when a tired co-worker, who had been working production issues most of the weekend, suggested it.
Thankfully, I shook my head clear of this idea and decided to bring basic chicken and veggie stocks to begin our soup creation, along with some spices. I also brought the following: 3/4 of a rotisserie chicken I had bought for quick dinners that week, and sliced carrots with the tops saved. I thought the tops could be thrown in for an extra green.
Surprisingly, my teammates stuck to basic soup ingredients: chicken, celery, carrots, shallots, mushrooms, green beans, tomatoes and an apple. Wait … an apple? Naturally, we had to put it in, just to see what it was like.
Since we had two crock pots and loads of ingredients, we decided to make two soups — a chicken and a veggie. For the most part, the ingredients were quite similar. We added the apples to both to see how it paired with both versions. It turned out to be quite tasty in the veggie soup, even lending a little hint of fall flavors for an added bit of comfort.
There may have been ongoing issues in our production environment that day, but the soup project was voted a success. Not only did it bring our team together, but it also drew other teams and co-workers around us to our little community. The smell of the slow-cooking soup filled the office with delicious warmth.
The procedure for both soups is similar. Simply add your stock and any ingredients on hand to the crock pot. Season as you like and turn the crock pot to high. If you are near the cooker, as we were at work, you can monitor the “done-ness” of the veggies. We tasted along the way and added seasoning, since we weren’t following a recipe.
Get creative! Add sriracha for some heat, noodles near the end, crispy garnishes on top (yes, I’m craving pho). Just be mindful of the time needed to cook your ingredients.
Chicken Soup
2 quarts chicken stock, low sodium
rotisserie chicken, shredded
1 can shredded chicken
1/2 apple, cubed
2 celery stalks, sliced
4 carrots, sliced
carrot tops
1 shallot, peeled and diced
1 garlic clove, smashed
freshly ground salt, to taste
freshly ground pepper, to taste
thyme, to taste
oregano, to tasteVeggie Soup
2 quarts low-sodium vegetable broth
1/2 quart white mushrooms, sliced
1/2 apple, cubed
2 celery stalks, sliced
4 carrots, sliced
carrot tops
1 can green beans
1 shallot, peeled and diced
1 garlic clove, smashed
freshly ground salt, to taste
freshly ground pepper, to taste
thyme, to tasteFor either soup, add your stock, vegetables and chicken, if using, to the crock pot. Season with herbs, salt and pepper, and turn the crock pot to high. If you can, regularly check in on the soup to test the “done-ness” of the veggies and season for taste.
Along the way, you can add noodles toward the end of cooking, sriracha or hot sauce for heat, or anything else that sounds tasty. Garnish as you like, and dig in!
