Finally there’s snow in Chicago. It was creeping us out, not having any snow. Warm January days when the temperature climbed almost into the 60s felt wrong somehow. Now with the snow falling properly — we’re expecting a few inches — we’re ready to focus on that other favorite complaint Chicagoans like to focus on: a few extra pounds.
After all, Chicago is one of the meat-eatingest, beer-drinkingest restaurant towns in the Midwest (aw, heck, in the whole country) and without lot of cold air to help us shiver the calories off, some of us have found a few extra pounds hanging around this year.
The weather has me craving meat stew, or bean soup, but I’m dedicated to getting in shape for the No Boundaries running program that start in about ten days at FleetFeet so I read all those delicious bean soup recipes and decided to go ahead and eschew the beans for hearty winter vegetables and lots of flavor. I chopped leeks, zuchini, butternut squash, and roasted tomatoes, and let this soup simmer on the stove for a few hours, filling the house with all the same satisfying smells you’d get from a higher-cal option, and turns out it rewards with just as much — flavor, a bit of crunch, and a satisfying feeling of being full when you’ve finished a bowl.
Read the Winter Vegetable Soup recipe.
