Thursday, January 10, 2008

vegetable soup


***written Thursday

In about 60 days, I have gone from a non-soup eater, to a lover of soup. Weird?! Not only am I buying pre-made soup in the grocery store and at restaurants, I am reading recipes like a mad woman. I have several that I am anxious to make and even had a few ingredients on my grocery list last night. Then I read this recipe, in our local town newspaper, and it sounded so easy and good to me as well. I am happy to report I made this today, straight from the grocery store, into the pan and almost as quickly, into my mouth. It is terrific. Easy, and almost mess free. I used a knife, a cutting board, a dutch oven and spoon to stir. The less clean up the better in my book. I am all about the creating, not so much about the aftermath. Now I have two bowls in the fridge for immediate consumption, and 2 in the freezer for later. My husband will likely take those to work. Aren't I a good wife, preparing homemade soup for my man? Why yes, I am!



30 minute vegetable soup

1 lb. lean ground beef
1 c. chopped onion
1 tsp. garlic
1 jar 20-30 oz. chunky garden style pasta sauce (I used Ragu, about ¾ of a jar)
water to taste (start with 1 soup can) (I actually omitted this, I like thick soup)



2 cans beef broth
1 can 10 oz chopped tomatoes and chilies
1 bag 16 oz frozen mixed vegetables, thawed if you have time

Sauté meat, onion and garlic together in stockpot. Drain any fat. Next, add everything else. Remember to add only part of the pasta sauce. Bring to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes. Toss in fresh spinach if you’d like (I did not) until wilted, about 1 minute. Serve with grated cheddar or parmesan for garnish.




Now might be the time to admit that I have never tried vegetable soup, at least not that I recall. So I am not sure if this compares to a traditional recipe or not.


***written Sunday

Also, now that I have eaten 3 bowls of it over the past few days, I recommend maybe cooking it slightly longer than 20 minutes to soften all the veggies more. Seriously, there are probably 5 veggie servings per bowl!!






Pin It

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

okay, if you want some more easy soup recipes, try the cugino's ( i think that's the brand spelling?) box kits... esp the chx tortilla one - it's awesome!! all you do is dump the kit into a crock of water and add some tomato sauce. i tried the french onion soup too (add water and onions, that's it) - it was fabulous, though it did stink up my kitchen for a few days. i freeze them too, and pretend i have a husband to feed them to. :) not complaining. more for me.