Chorizo-tomato soup with poached egg

This is an adaptation of a recipe from Rachael Ray. Her recipe has more exact amounts; I played fast and loose with the measurements. It was still really good, though.

I took two big chorizo sausages, squeezed the meat out, and cooked that with a little olive oil in a big stockpot for a couple minutes. Then I added a big chopped onion and some garlic, a couple ribs of chopped celery, some chopped carrots, and a small handful of Italian seasoning. I let that cook for a couple more minutes, then added three cans of diced tomatoes, with the juice, and most of a jar of chicken broth. Add salt and pepper, cover, let cook on low for 15-20 minutes.

While that was happening, I carefully poached four eggs. Bring a pan of water just to a good bubble (don't let it boil; you just want to see the bubbles forming at the bottom and sides of the pan) and add a couple tablespoons of white vinegar. Carefully crack the egg in (one at a time) close to the surface of the water. Let cook for a minute or two, depending on how cooked you want it. Make sure it doesn't boil.

Then I chopped a handful of fresh parsley and zested some lemon and lime over that. When the soup was done, I put a big handful of homemade croutons in the bottom of bowl, added the soup, then put a poached egg and some parsley mix on top. YUM. You could certainly eat the soup by itself, but the combination of textures and elements was really nice.

Cost: I got the chorizo in bulk at Sam's, and used two out of six. Everything else I consider a basic pantry ingredient. I'd estimate the total cost around $4 for the batch. 17 cents each for the eggs, 57 cents each for the cans of tomatoes, the croutons and chicken broth were homemade, a few dollars for the whole package of chorizo... comes out to 4-5 full servings. About a dollar, or less, per bowl.