Otherwise known as the reason my tongue and roof of my mouth were burned for 10 days straight.

I really have no patience when it comes to a steaming bowl of soup in front of my face.

It’s odd that I went with a vegetarian soup here, because my initial motivation for soup making was a desire to make homemade chicken stock again. I had a chicken carcass, a thyme bundle, and a couple of Parmesan rinds hanging out in my fridge. What else was I supposed to do??

Note: I don’t actually hang on to chicken carcasses. The timing of this one just worked out quite well.

I did the chicken stock in my slow cooker- chicken, thyme, parsley, celery/carrots/onion, garlic, Parm rinds, and filled it to the brim with water. Cooked it on low for about 8 hours, and then strained it. Perfection.

Then we throw a bunch of healthy stuff in a pot!

1 sweet onion, chopped

3 stalks celery, chopped

about 1 cup carrots, chopped (I used baby carrots)

3-4 cloves garlic, minced

16 oz can crushed tomatoes

2 cups chopped kale

1 can garbanzo beans

1 can kidney beans

1 head cauliflower, chopped

2 teaspoons Italian seasoning

Start with a little olive oil, stir all this stuff around and season with salt and pepper, then pour your stock in it. You can also make this with pre-made chicken stock or vegetable stock (I would do 2 boxes!) Let it sit on the stove and simmer on low for at least an hour.

I cooked the pasta separately (ditalini, but any small pasta will work) so that I could add it to each bowl. Nothing worse than soggy pasta in your soup.

This was the point where I was doing 57 other things in my apartment (usual behavior) and left in a rush to go teach Body Pump. I was about halfway to the gym when I realized I had left the stove on.

I immediately called the GS, who was at the golf course at the time, and said YOU NEED TO GO TO MY APARTMENT RIGHT NOW AND TURN OFF THE STOVE.

I think pulling a man off the golf course to do a household chore might constitute a break-up in some relationships. I’m a lucky lady.

His response: “Are you sure you left the stove on? Sometimes you think you do things like that, but you’re not a forgetful person.” Yeah, I was pretty sure I left it on.

Then, “It literally can’t start a fire. You have an electric stove. Worst case scenario, the bottom of your soup is a little burned.”

This was still an unacceptable outcome.

He may have taken his sweet time getting back to my apartment to rectify my mistake. I’ll never know, I was probably mid-squat track by then, worries lost in a haze of exercise-induced endorphins.

And my soup didn’t burn. So all is right with the world.