Really simple, really good, really veggie garbanzo-centric utility soup/stew

This is a fast-assemble soup that is awesome with sourdough baguette/bread. I grilled some tempeh to toss on top as well...

Ingredients:

• 3tbsp oliv oil
• 1 large onion (sweet/white) diced or chopped
• 1 large bag mixed frozen veg (peas/carrot/corn, etc)
• 2 16oz cans garbanzo beans
• 2 24oz cans diced tomatoes
• 12-16 cups veggie broth
• 2 tbsp minced garlic
• 1 cup sliced crimini mushrooms
• 1 tbsp cornstarch or Wondra gravy maker
• 1 cup chopped frozen spinach

Directions:

1. Rinse and strain garbanzos
2. In a 12 quart stockpot, heat to medium, add oil, and saute' onions for 4-5 min, or until just this side of tranlucent.
3. Add mushrooms & garlic. Saute' for 4 min covered, stirring once or twice, until the mushrooms begin to let go of their liquids.
4. Add in frozen veg. Saute covered for 2 more min.
5. Add in tomatoes and their liquid. Stir well and cover.
6. Add broth to cans, swish to get all the rest of the tomato goodness. Add all liquid to stockpot.
7. Add garbanzos.
8. Cover ad bring to boil.
9. Reduce heat and simmer for a goodly long while.
10. Before serving, gather 2 cups of liquid, strain veggies, and place in a working bowl. Whisk in corn-starch/Wondra. Add back into stock-pot. Simmer for 5 min more while soup turns to stew. Add in 1 cup frozen chopped spinach.
11. Serve with bread or over pre-cooked pasta fusilli or rotini.

Serves more people than you probably know. I make BIG soup pots. Cheap meals for weeks.

Notes:

Obviously, you can take this soup in a number of directions. It can very easily be made into a tortilla soup (add cumin & cilantro and garnish with a slice of lime), or a tuscan (add an additional can of white beans, some fresh basil or 2 tbsp of pesto paste, garnish with lemon), florintien (add two cups of frozen spinach at the outset and cook in) or spanish (cumin & paprika, plus a small tin of sliced black olives & lemon). I typically start with this base soup, then do one or more of the varriations with the left-overs.