Vegetable Soup

this is good the first day but gets better
with time, it get's thicker and
less runny... 

It's been chilly the last couple days and I felt like soup, this one is roughly based on Cabbage Soup - from the cabbage soup diet that has been around and popular forever - I've combined a few different recipes to come up with this version; I don't follow the diet (mostly because one day is eating all-you -can-eat soup and bananas -yuck, I'd starve haha) but I really like this soup! It's simple and quick to make, and you can tailor it to whatever veggies and spices you like.

Here's my version (but really, add or subtract to it and it'll still taste good!):

In a large pot saute 1/2 cup diced onion, 1/2 cup diced celery and some chopped garlic in a little bit of olive oil, after a couple minutes start adding whatever veggies you like cut into bite sized pieces. This time I did mushrooms, green beans, carrots, yellow pepper, zucchini - it can definitely be a "clean out the fridge" time - let it cook for a few minutes before adding 28oz canned diced tomatoes with the juice, v8 juice (I used 4 little cans), 1 packet of dried onion soup mix, and chicken broth - I add however much liquid makes the soup the consistency I want. Let it cook until the veggies are just starting to get tender, maybe 15 minutes; then add 1/2 chopped head of cabbage, cover and cook for another 10 minutes. Start to finish this takes about 45 minutes, don't let it cook too long or everything gets soft and a bit mushy. This makes quite a lot,  I put it in the fridge and it takes me a few days to finish it, I haven't tried freezing it but don't know why you couldn't. I eat this for snacks and lunch, it's flavorful, filling, and low calorie -  you can google how to do the whole "cabbage soup diet" if you're interested, and if you like bananas :)