Rebecca Holloway

I made it & I liked it. I accidentally put a few too many red pepper flakes, so it was hotter than I would have preferred. However. I ate it a couple different ways & it just went with whatever I used. I had a black bean & corn salsa I put on it & that was very good.

I used some homemade black bean soup & used 2 cans chopped tomatoes- 1 that I pureed w/an immersion blender. To shorten prep time, I used frozen & chopped onions & peppers & jarred minced garlic. I liked the end result & even more surprising- my non-vegetarian husband liked it too! I consider any no meat meal a success if my husband likes it! P.S. This & many other recipes call for a couple stalks of celery. Being the only raw celery eater in my household, it is always difficult to use all the celery before it spoils. I googled freezing celery & tried the recommendations of dropping stalks in boiling water for 3 minutes & then plunged it in a ice bath, removed it & allowed it to drain throughly & froze it in freezer bags. I have used the frozen celery since & it is perfect in this recipe & others. An unexpected bonus is that it is easier to chop when frozen. Do not thaw it before chopping & adding it to your recipe & it tastes & looks like you used fresh!

I lost all my cookbooks & recipes in a fire, but this one is what I remembered making before. One of the most important things to do is make sure the butter is softened. I doubled the recipe to make more, & the worst part about that is the time to shape, bake, cool & roll the cookies to the finish. I had planned to make them with a friend, but when plans fell through I did them myself. Next time I plan on having teenage volunteers! The end result was excellent & they are an absolute favorite with everyone. I think they are a great cookie to make with your kids or grandkids. This recipe will remain on my list.

If I'm making an all vegetable/ pasta soup, I don't want to use chicken broth in it. I change that every time & use vegetable broth instead. I pretty much followed the rest of the recipe, although I used a little more or a little less of some of the ingredients- depending on what I had on hand- it is fairly close. I did add a can of diced tomatoes & more green beans then called for & used already sliced carrots, so I'm not sure how many there are. I just dumped it all in. I don't think 30-40 minutes is enough cook time, so it simmered much longer. Keeping the pasta separate doesn't work for me because I plan on freezing several containers for my evenings when I don't want to cook, so after cooking pasta separately, it's added to the pot too. I'm hoping my non-vegetarian husband will like it too! I will make it again, even if it's just for me.