Can you believe that it is September already??? Did everyone have a great Labor Day weekend? Did you have your grills going?

I didn’t barbeque this weekend because I did a family BBQ last weekend for my husband’s birthday, which his mom coincidently calls Labor Day too. (Actually there should be a National Holiday for HER given the size of my husband’s melon!)

Our BBQ had the regular fare with the exception of the abundance of grilled veggies I made for the crowd. Hubby loves his veggies and insisted that we have plenty on hand for all of our guests.

But you know what? When you have yummy goodies like potato chips and awesome hummus dip, people aren’t knocking each other over to get to the veggies. The veggies just sit there looking lonely and pathetic like the unpopular kid on the playground. (Oh, that just made me really sad for my veggies and unpopular kids.)

I knew we would have one night of must-gos but I really did not want to eat burgers etc. all week. (I did turn a couple of the burgers into beef fried rice and must say it was good. It was actually better than the actual burger on a bun.)

My grilled veggies (zucchini, yellow squash, onions) were quite beautiful and I really didn’t want any of them to go to waste. (ESPECIALLY since the zucchini and yellow squash were grown with my own little hands.)

As I smelled their roasty smoky goodness, it came to me….grilled vegetable soup. Done right, I knew I could take these forsaken veggies into the most sought after dish ever! (If veggies could be a prom queen…these babies would take the crown after I was done with them.)

I twirled them up my blender and added a couple of homegrown tomatoes for good measure, added some veggie broth and let the pot cook for a good hour. I tasted for seasoning and will admit that my first taste was BLAND! I added a healthy sprinkle of salt and a teaspoon of the seasoning I had used on the veggies when I grilled them.

When I let it simmer a little longer, I couldn’t believe this beautiful rustic soup came out of a plastic container of leftovers!!! It was a Labor Day miracle!!!

Rustic Grilled Vegetable Soup

Ingredients

6 cups of leftover grilled (or roasted) veggies (zucchini, yellow squash, onion, tomatoes)

2 cloves garlic chopped

6 cups vegetable broth

Salt and pepper to taste

Extra virgin olive oil

Herbs of your choice

Directions

Twirl veggies in your blender until it is a chunky/smooth. (Not a smooth-smooth)

In a large soup pot, sauté the garlic in a little olive oil. (I didn’t put any garlic on my veggies originally because of the in-laws so use your best judgment if your veggies need more oomph.)

Add blended veggies and broth. Simmer over med/low heat for an hour. Taste for seasoning. Add salt, pepper and any fresh herbs you may have laying around. (You know a couple of basil leaves or a smidge of chopped up thyme).

Let it cook about 15 more minutes.

Serve. (I had some leftover fried onions and put those on top. YUM!)

This has got to be one of my favorite recipes concoctions I’ve come up with in the recent years. It was really simple. I did want to note that I went with a cup of veggies to a cup of broth ratio so for future leftovers I could make the soup again. I originally only had 5 cups of veggies so I tossed in the tomatoes at the last minute to increase my volume.

Next time I BBQ, I will probably make too many vegetables but at least now I know that I have a plan to make a “labor-free” soup!