TRADER JOE'S RECIPE -- QUICK AND EASY SOUP

Since the closest grocery store to me is our local Trader Joe's, I do most of my daily food shopping there. I love the lively, friendly atmosphere in our store, and have improvised several quick and easy dinner recipes using their products. Here's one for a soup that can work as a meal, especially on a sweltering hot day when you don't feel like cooking but don't want to eat fast food either. I've made both meat and vegetarian/vegan versions of this soup.

You'll need:

• 2 boxes of Trader Joe's organic vegetable or chicken broth (Free Range chicken broth is the best, I think, as is Hearty Vegetable)
  

• 1 bag Trader Joe's organic foursome frozen vegetables (I've experimented with different frozen veggies, including the stir-fry version, but like this the best)
  

• 2 boxes Trader Joe's frozen vegetable or chicken shu mai

• oil for sauteeing (I use a mix of olive and sesame)
  
• salt or soy sauce (optional)
• Trader Joe's wasabi sesame drizzling sauce
• (optional) Trader Joe's Chinese-style barbecued pork, thinly sliced and lightly sauteed
  

Here's what to do:

Heat oil in a medium to large-size pot on medium heat. Add organic foursome frozen vegetables and sautee till heated through, about 3-4 minutes. Add broth (both boxes). Increase heat if needed and bring to a boil. Lower heat (or leave at medium if you did not increase it), and add shu mai. *Cover pot*. Let simmer for another 6-8 minutes to steam-cook shu mai. When shu mai are puffed up and cooked, the soup is done! You can add salt or soy sauce if preferred, but I don't like a lot of sodium so I leave it out.

You can also sautee the barbecued pork to heat it up and add it to the soup. Drizzle a bit of wasabi sesame drizzling sauce over each individual bowl of hot soup before serving. This sauce is hot and can clear out your sinuses, so use sparingly! I like about 1 tablespoon of it in my soup, but you can use less. I think it gives the soup its distinct flavor, though, so it should not be omitted.

For a vegetarian/vegan version, omit the pork and use only veggie versions of the broth and shu mai. Both meat and non-meat versions are delicious!