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Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Vegetable Beef Soup

Adapted from my grandmother's vegetable soup recipe, this is one of my favorite cold day meals and is also a great pick-me-up when you may be a little under the weather.

Vegetable Beef Soup




Research:

I have spent more time refining this recipe than I did studying all three semesters of calculus in college. It has been tested and tweaked and tested again as I inched ever closer to what I remember my grandmother's soup tasting like. Of course when she made it, she used leftovers, so it was different every time, but it had a distinctive flavor and a little heat to warm the soul. In my grandmother's day soup was simply a commonsense method to repurpose leftovers. Mine, however, is more like Coca-Cola's secret formula -- its precision would make a Swiss watchmaker blush and my grandmother shake her head.

Plan:

Gather the following ingredients:

2 pounds of ground beef
1 whole celery stalk
3 medium red onions
1 green bell pepper
1 small red cabbage Update to Kale rather than cabbage. Hardy and stands up to slow cooking.
3 cans kidney beans
46 oz Clamato vegetable juice cocktail
46 oz tomato juice
4 cans diced tomatoes w/oregano and garlic
2 cans whole corn
2 cans of lima beans
1 can of early peas
a little less than 1/2 teaspoon red pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon black pepper

Optional:  Replace some of the corn with sweet peas and/or baby lima beans.

We are going to brown the meat in a little oil and then add the chopped ingredients. Very simple.

Cook until the peppers are tender, but it is really best the next day.

Execution:



Brown the ground ground beef in a big soup pot. No need to pour off 
the fat unless you want to be extra healthy.




Chop up the cabbage, onions, celery and bell pepper into similar-sized pieces.



Add the remaining ingredients, including the spices.



Cook on a medium heat until boiling and then reduce to simmer for about an hour.




This makes about 20 servings, and we usually freeze much of it into 
single and double serving size containers.


Verdict:

This is delicious. I make this several times a year, so I will supplement this post with additional photos and tips as I make more.

a recent update included using red cabbage and changing from 4 cans of corn to 2 corn and 2 lima beans. It was an improvement.




Please help support our site, buy something you like on Amazon. Simply click through the links below and though you can pick anything, I suggest the thermometer and knives below:


So apparently Thermoworks doesn't sell through Amazon anymore. You must buy direct. Still the thermometer to have. Go here and order direct. 

Aaron Franklin's Favorite trimming knife:

Dexter-Russell (S131F-6PCP) - 6" Boning Knife - Sani-Safe Series

Aaron Franklin's Favorite Brisket cutting/serving knife:


Sani-Safe S140-12SC-PCP 12" Scalloped Roast Slicer

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