Greektalian Wild Rice Soup

Thursday night went something like this:
Me: We don't have any food at home
My husband: Crap
Me: What can we make quick?
My husband: Want to meet at Trader Joe's?

And just like that, a new recipe was born. He never actually made it to Trader Joe's, but as I walked through the aisles I picked out some things I thought might make a quick soup. We took the 6:25 train home, got in the door 15 minutes later and by 7:00 dinner was ready.

We couldn't stop exclaiming how darn good this soup was all night! It's got a bunch of different flavors kicking around in your mouth all at once, with enough heat to justify keeping the thermostat in the house down a degree. Wild rice was a nice change of pace for us too. I'm reading that besides being a complete protein its got lotsa zinc and magnesium. It was great with the feta but obviously it's easy to leave that out and make this a vegan meal.

Greektalian Wild Rice Soup
I've named after the fact that I couldn't decide whether or not the flavors should go greek (I considered adding kalamata olives to the feta) or italian (the red pepper and broccoli with italian style bread definitely were headed that way.)
For topping:
1 small loaf of substantial whole wheat bread, torn into pieces
3 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 Tbl. Fresh thyme
2 Tbl. sea salt
a couple glugs of olive oil
1 tomato, chopped
1 cup feta cheese, crumbled

For soup:
2 Tbl olive oil
1-2 Tbl red pepper flakes, depending how hot you want it
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
12 cups vegetable broth
1.5 cups pre-cooked wild rice or other cooked grain
6-8 sundried tomatoes, chopped
2 cups broccoli, chopped tiny

1. Tear whole wheat bread into bite size pieces. I used an italian-style loaf which worked well. In a bowl, mix bread with garlic, oil, salt and thyme. Spread evenly on cookie sheet and bake at 450 degrees until toasted well (about 10 minutes). Chop tomato and set aside, along with crumbled feta.
2. In large stock pot, heat oil over medium heat. Add red pepper, garlic and onion, stirring and allowing the onion to become translucent. Add vegetable broth to the pot, along with wild rice and sun-dried tomatoes. Bring to a boil, then turn heat down and simmer. Add broccoli--it will turn bright green quickly and that's the perfect amount of cooking time.
3. Ladle soup into bowls and top with toasted bread pieces, tomato and feta.
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Serves: 6