i freaking love soup.

vegetable soup -- steps in order:

2 tbsp light olive oil
chopped onion and minced garlic

2 chopped celery ribs, lots of carrot chunks (i used about 5 carrots!)

3 slices crumbled stale bread (sounds weird, but this will dissolve as you simmer and stir the soup, thickening it slightly)
8 cups flavorful broth (when we don't have homemade, i like to use Kitchen Basics brand chicken stock, but you can use water, or several cubes of a vegetable bouillon you like)

half a package of broad egg noodles (or "dumpling" size) -- i think replacing this with small-diced yukon potatoes would have been delicious too
most of a large (20-oz?) can of chickpeas
4-5 handfuls chopped dinosaur kale, curly kale, and/or mustard greens (we used all three!), or as much/little as you like

to top: kosher salt, coarse-ground black pepper, and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil
also crystal hot sauce if you like

it took me just 45 minutes to make a big pot of this on tuesday, and it was all gone in one sitting. i liked it so much i told all my coworkers about it, and ended up inviting one of them over for a new pot of it for sunday lunch. k is from new orleans like me, and had fed me red beans and rice and collard greens the night before when my body was starved for some real food, so a return invite seemed only fair. plus she is good company. our sunday soup pot was even bigger than the first, and it disappeared even faster. i will be making this stuff until march.