You know how every once in a while you see something and you think “Why didn’t I remember to do that?”
Well folks, I seem to do that often nowadays.  Not this week, however.  I went to the store Monday morning during my sons 7 AM swimming practice with my helpful little shopper in tow.  We found so many great deals on vegetables that I really stocked up!

Normally, if it isn’t on my list I just make note of the sale for later in the week in case I should need to know.  This week when I went, I did not have all these veggies on the list but felt like I really couldn’t pass them up!  Not only were the prices outrageous but I also had a coupon for $5.00 off my produce purchase!  Score ????

Monday became yet another day this summer with no plans yet I was busy all day.  Can’t figure that one out.  So I decided to throw some turkey burgers I had pattied earlier on the grill and grill up some vegetables I bought that morning.  I got out my huge cast iron skillet and started throwing in chopped produce.  I drizzled it all with olive oil, added kosher salt, fresh pepper, red pepper flakes, 1 stem of rosemary and 1 sprig of oregano.

I wish I had taken a picture of that (I didn’t anticipate on using it, I guess).  I used the following vegetables in my huge skillet:
1 package of baby Bella mushrooms-whole
2 Vidalia onions chunked
1 package of grape tomatoes on the vine-leave whole
1 red pepper, 1 orange pepper
2 zucchini-1 variegated and one standard
2 yellow squash

I let sizzle away while the burgers were cooking and made sure that they stayed crisp and not mushy ????  We loved them.  Fresh, crisp and zesty is what my husband had to say.  See, this is not a recipe, but just a veggie tale.

So now to the soup.  I , as you may have suspected, had a lot of leftover veggies.  I did this on purpose.  I was actually thinking ahead ????  So, yesterday for lunch I threw the leftovers into a large pot.  I added 1 28 ounce can of diced tomatoes, 2 cans of vegetable broth, a handful of red lentils, 1 cup of barley and at the end a handful of chopped kale.

So I guess in essence this is what you could call Leftover Soup.  I threw in some legumes and grains I needed to use up along with a little liquid and I had one of the best most flavorful vegetable soups I have had in a long time!  Not every great meal has directions and a 20 item shopping list.  This was quick, simple and I just followed my instincts (I listened this time) to make not 1 but 2 meals out of this.  Use what you have, make sure it is fresh and colorful and take the credit for coming up with something your whole family will enjoy ????