Harmony in the Home

Yesterday I made a soup, and I have no idea what many of the ingredients are.  I bought the soup mix from a local Amish bulk store, and the only thing on the label was “Harmony Soup” and how to make it.  I could see dried split peas, kidney beans, red beans, navy beans, wheatberries, and a few other things I couldn’t immediately recognize.  I can only think that they shoved together the leftovers from other bulk items and called it soup mix.  I thought I’d try my luck.

The instructions said to soak the mixture overnight.  I took my time and soaked it a couple of overnights in the fridge, as Monday night became too busy to do the prep.  Tuesday morning I threw some leg quarters of chicken from my sweet Triple S folks into the slow cooker with some water and cooked it until I got home from an appointment early afternoon.  Then I removed the cooked chicken, leaving the stock.  I sautéed a huge bunch of baby celery (with a lot of leaves) and some garlic ramps from my last winter order with Claybank Farms, a large onion, and 4 carrots.  (Carrots were on sale at my Co-op, not local, but organic).  I dumped the sautéed mixture into the stock with the soaked and rinsed harmony soup mix and cooked on high, setting it for four hours.  I de-boned and minced the chicken when it cooled, and added to the mixture, filling the slow cooker to the brim! I added a teaspoon of salt, and let the flavors meld together all afternoon.

And then…a family argument.  About something rather trivial that got blown up because everyone was hungry and could smell the soup wafting through the house.  When my husband finally asked what was for dinner, I couldn’t help but express the irony.  “Harmony Soup, as luck would have it,” I said.  He paused, and then filled a bowl.  I stormed about for a few more minutes, then filled a bowl for myself and took it to the table.  By the time we were done, he was complimenting my soup, and I was calmed down enough to enjoy a bit of seconds.

Harmony Soup, after all.