Macaroni Vegetable Soup — Babcia’s Lesson: Feed the People Who Need Feeding

George Floyd was murdered on Monday. I am a white guy from Bay View and I don't know what to say except that the video is horrifying and the anger is righteous and the protests that erupted across the country, including in Milwaukee, are necessary. Milwaukee has its own deep history of racial injustice — one of the most segregated cities in America, and not by accident. I grew up on the south side. I went to a mostly white school. I ate at Polish restaurants and shopped at Polish groceries and my world was, by design and by default, very white. I don't have profound things to say about race. I'm learning. What I can say is this: the food world I've been celebrating — the Polish-American tradition, the immigrant story — is one of many immigrant stories, and all of them deserve the same attention, the same reverence, the same platform. The Vietnamese grandmother's phß╗ƒ is the same love as Babcia's pierogi. The Black grandmother's collard greens are the same inheritance. The Mexican grandmother's mole is the same thread. All of us are carrying forward something precious, and all of us deserve the space to do it. I posted on Instagram — not a recipe, not a cooking video, just a statement that I'm listening, learning, and committed to using my platform to amplify voices beyond my own. It felt inadequate. It is inadequate. But silence is worse. Memorial Day was quiet. No cookout at Dad's. Too soon to gather, too much happening in the world. I grilled alone on the balcony — brats, for tradition — and went to Danny's grave with flowers and sat in the grass and thought about all the ways the world breaks and all the ways we try to fix it. Made a meal this week that felt right for the moment: a big pot of rosó┼é — Babcia's chicken soup — delivered to the families in my building, to Mrs. Wojcik, to Mom and Dad. Soup doesn't fix injustice. Soup doesn't heal a nation. But soup feeds people, and fed people have the strength to keep fighting. Babcia would have made soup. She always made soup.

Rosół — Babcia’s chicken soup — was always what she reached for when something was wrong, and I didn’t have her exact recipe written down anywhere I could find it this week, just the memory of the smell and the feeling of being handed a bowl and told to sit down and eat. This macaroni vegetable soup isn’t rosół, but it’s in that same spirit: simple, honest, made to fill people up and remind them someone is thinking of them. I made a big pot, ladled it into containers, and walked it down the hall to Mrs. Wojcik and the families downstairs — because that’s what Babcia would have done, and it’s the only thing I knew how to do that felt worth doing.

Macaroni Vegetable Soup

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 30 min | Total Time: 45 min | Servings: 8

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 medium carrots, peeled and sliced into coins
• 3 stalks celery, sliced
• 2 medium zucchini, diced
• 1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
• 6 cups low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
• 1 cup elbow macaroni, uncooked
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon dried parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
• 1 cup frozen green beans or peas
• Freshly grated Parmesan, for serving (optional)

Instructions

1. Build the base. Heat olive oil in a large heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion and celery and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook 1 minute more until fragrant.
2. Add the vegetables. Stir in carrots and zucchini. Cook for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally, until they begin to soften slightly at the edges.
3. Add broth and tomatoes. Pour in the broth and diced tomatoes with their liquid. Add thyme, parsley, oregano, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce to a steady simmer.
4. Cook the macaroni. Add the elbow macaroni to the simmering soup. Cook uncovered, stirring occasionally, for about 8–10 minutes until pasta is just tender. Do not overcook — the pasta will continue to absorb liquid as it sits.
5. Finish and adjust. Stir in frozen green beans or peas and cook 2–3 minutes until heated through. Taste and adjust salt and pepper as needed.
6. Serve. Ladle into bowls and top with freshly grated Parmesan if desired. Soup keeps well refrigerated for up to 4 days; thin with a splash of broth when reheating as the macaroni will continue to absorb liquid.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 145 | Protein: 5g | Fat: 3g | Carbs: 26g | Fiber: 3g | Sodium: 420mg