Today, a recipe post. Here in Atlanta the weather is dreary, rainy and cold - perfect for a nice hearty soup. Also, we'd been watching Food Network and whenever I do that, I am seized by an overwhelming urge to chop things, so if I made a soup I could do lots and lots of chopping, even more fun with my spiffy Santoku knife.

The challenge for me, besides the intimidation factor of cooking for a husband with a degree in Culinary Arts, is that Alan is a very picky eater. He doesn't eat any seafood (negating 2 of my specialties right there), he dislikes most vegetables, including artichokes (there goes 2 other specialties) and green pepper, which I love to put in stir-fry, soups, tons of dishes. He doesn't like any beans or peas, of which some variety or other usually ends up in my soup. His favorite meat is pork, which is my least favorite - while I don't dislike pork, if it were up to me I'd choose chicken, seafood or beef instead. I've said it before, but for someone with a degree in food, he sure hates a lot of it.

So, my assignment was to construct a tasty, hearty soup using only Alan-approved vegetables. I started with a savory, pre-prepared chicken stock. Tip from Rachael Ray: starting with one of these packaged stocks is a great basis for soups as it will taste flavorful and slow-cooked right away instead of after hours of simmering.

Here's my recipe:

1 32-oz box of Kitchen Basics chicken stock
1 26-oz box of Pomi chopped tomatoes (delicious!)
1 leek
2 medium onions
3 small shallots
2 - 4 cloves garlic (I used 4 but we're people who love us some garlic!)
1.25 - 1.5 lbs chicken breasts
2 zucchinis (I used 2 because the ones at Publix were very small. If your store has medium or large ones, 1 will probably do)
1 package baby bella mushrooms (don't know what size but I think they're fairly standard)
3 carrots
3 ribs celery
1/4 cup flat-leaf parsley
4 medium Yukon Gold potatoes
2 1/4 cups dry white wine (I used Chateau St. Michelle chardonnay)
coarse salt to taste
black pepper to taste
dash of red pepper flakes
2 teaspoons thyme

Actually, for the carrots and celery, our grocery sells precut stalks of each (suitable for crudite), so I bought a small container of each instead of whole bunches, because I hate waste and I know I wouldn't think of anything else to do with the remaining bunch of celery or carrots. This way, I had enough for the soup plus some for snacking with ranch dip, instead of tons of food winding up in the garbage.

Finely chop all vegetables and chicken. I like to chop my ingredients into fairly small bits, so that you can get a taste of more than one thing with a spoonful. Alan is particular about the chunks of chicken being spoon-sized, as well. Another tip: substitutions in general are fine, for example use your preference of white, yellow or red onions, but Yukon Gold potatos are a great choice for soups because they aren't nearly as starchy as standard Idaho baking potatoes.

I chopped my onions, shallots, garlic, carrots, celery and parsley and it was at this juncture that I was confronted with the problem inherent in not following an actual recipe. My 5-quart Crock Pot was filled to the rim, I hadn't added any liquids, meat or potatoes. Kind of a problem. Fortunately, 2 of my good buds had gotten us this great set of copper-bottom cookware for a wedding gift and among the set was a huge 11-quart stockpot, so I was able to transfer the cut vegetables and continue along with my chopping frenzy.

I let everything simmer for 4 - 5 hours, although it was technically done and edible once the chicken was cooked through. The larger your chunks are, the longer it will take for everything to cook thoroughly, so there's another reason to chop the ingredients finely. Nancy, you could feed this soup to Mark and Anthony if you first invest in an immersion blender. Once it's done, blend all the chunks and bits into a fine paste so they don't realize a vegetable is involved, and it should be fine. Serve with a hearty bread; we prefer sourdough slathered with garlic butter and sprinkled with a little parsley. Yields: huge boatload.