Today I am going to share with you a secret recipe that has been passed down through my family for generations.

No I’m not.

But I will share a soup recipe that has been passed along from someone named Cindy, to my parents, to me about three weeks ago. And since then, I’ve made three batches.

Why should you make this soup?

• Because I said so
• It’s crazy healthy
• You can toss it in the crock pot in the morning and have dinner ready when you get home from work
• It’s easy to customize to suit your taste and nutritional needs
• Even the leftovers taste great

Are you ready? Grab a spoon and let’s get ready to make an amazing pot of…

Vegetable Fiesta Soup

• 1 large onion, minced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 medium raw sweet potato chopped
• 2 cups fresh broccoli, minced (I use frozen)
• 1/2 cup fresh carrots, minced
• 1/2 cup celery, minced
• 1 small can shopped green chilies
• 1 16 oz can fat free refried beans
• 1 16 oz can black beans
• 16 oz low sodium vegetable broth
• 2 tbs butter or your favorite butter substitute
• Season with pepper, sea salt, fresh or dried parsley, and fresh or dried chopped basil — all to taste

Chop, chop, chop. Then, toss all ingredients into the crock pot for a good 10-12 hours. Go to the gym. Shower. Eat.

As I mentioned, this recipe can easily be customized to your liking. In fact, the original recipe was named Cindy’s Fiesta Chicken Soup and called for things like 2 cooked and shredded chicken breasts, chicken stock, and corn. Since I don’t eat chickens I left those suckers out. And since I don’t like corn to touch anything on my plate or my bowl for that matter, I omitted Mexican Corn from the recipe as well. Because I’m crazy like that.

Now I really must go to the gym before I serve up a corny  “no soup for you” joke du jour.