Borscht with Vegetable Stock

Yesterday was still a school holiday because New Year's Day fell on a Sunday. So P went to work and Ules and I had a cozy day in. I took down the Christmas tree and packed it all up, only to find that I missed tucking in all the snowmen on the windowsill. Now all the snow people are put to bed along with the old artificial tree we bought for thirty bucks at a thrift store many moons ago.

Borscht can be a good "clean out the fridge" kind of soup. I used the dried veggies that Ambercott Acres sells at the winter market to make a rich, ruby vegetable stock. These are the odds and ends of vegetable along with grated beets that they dry themselves, mostly just by laying it out on screens under the sun. This stock is a great base for a pure vegetable borcht. I strained out the stock veg, added freshly grated beets, green onions and garlic and some endamame for a hit of protein eh voila! A nourishing lunch. A loooong time ago I had borscht in a Doukhabor restaurant near Castlegar, and this soup brought back that memory (IIRC that was a vegetarian version as well). Since I didn't make it to New Year's dinner, my MIL thoughtfully prepared a care package on a Pyrex plate which Ules and I shared for lunch: tender slices of roast beef, peas, roasted baby potatoes and mashed squash. Ules said, "The squash is my favorite. Dad days its like melted gold." It is made with lots of brown sugar or maple syrup and melted butter and love.

Last night for supper we had salmon cakes, red cabbage coleslaw with pomegranate seeds, and quinoa. The boys also devoured a loaf of the garlic bread we get at our local grocery store. We also finished off the lovely Meadow Vista "Joy" sparkling mead from New Year's.