30 Minute Vegetable Soup

crowmama's Note:

Pressed for time? With a pressure cooker, you can have this soup in a half hour. Ingredient quantities vary in my house, but this recipe is flexible to use up leftover veggies in the fridge. Great to service with pasta as a vegetarian sauce, or with egg noodles as a soup. If you reduce the water during the cooking, you get a thicker, stew like recipe.

• Total Time: 30 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 20 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 12

• 6 cups potatoes, diced
• 3 cups carrots, cut into rounds
• 2 cups onions, sliced
• 2 cups celery, sliced
• 3 tablespoons garlic, minced (or more, to taste)
• 12 ounces tomato paste
• 2 tablespoons parsley
• 2 tablespoons oregano
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 6 -8 cups water

Directions:

1. Chop all ingredients, add to the pressure cooker. Add spices, water and oil. Make certain your water level comes up to at least 3/4 of the chopped veggies in the pressure cooker.
2. Fasten pressure cooker lid on, place rocker on top (I use a Presto stainless steel pressure cooker with a weighted rocker, which will maintain 15 psi or pounds per square inch when it's rocking and steaming).
3. Stove top gas or burner heat to high, until pressure cooker is at optimal pressure, or the rocker is jiggling and steaming.
4. When pressure cooker is rocking, let it cook for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, cut the heat and let the pressure cooker cool down to decompress on it's own.
5. After it has decompressed (such as when your safety lock has dropped), open and enjoy.