Hearty Beef and Vegetable Soup

I found this recipe on A Family Feast's blog. Rather than being called Hearty Beef and Vegetable Soup, it should be called Everything but Your Kitchen Sink Beef and Vegetable Soup. If you haven't noticed by the list of ingredients it has almost every vegetable you can imagine. The fun part of this soup was that you can definitely get creative with the ingredients. If you don't like one vegetable then leave it out. If you prefer kale instead of spinach, then substitute it or add it to the recipe. The wine gave the broth a deeper flavor but if your taste buds dislike wine (I can't imagine why they would) then just leave it out and add more V-8 juice and beef stock. You can really make it your own which I loved. It was delicious and definitely hearty. It made for great leftovers and would freeze pretty well. 

Prep Time: 45 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Serves: 12-14 servings

Ingredients:

2 Tbls. olive oil

1 lb. chuck beef, cut into small pieces

1 cup onions, diced

1/2 cup celery, died

1 cup carrots, diced

1/2 cup leeks, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tsp. dried thyme

1 (6 oz) can tomato paste

12 oz V-8 juice

1/2 cup red wine

2 quarts beef stock

2 cups water

1 (14 oz) can diced tomatos

1 cup cabbage, chopped

1 white turnip, diced

1/2 cup green beans, roughly chopped

3 oz baby spinach

1 (11 oz) can corn, drained

1 (14 oz) can white beans, drained & rinsed

salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

In a large stock pot, heat olive oil over medium high heat.

Place beef in oil and sear on all sides. Be sure not to crowd the pot so cook the beef in batches. 

Add onion, celery, carrots, and leeks and saute fore 5 minutes or until the vegetables are slightly tender.

Add garlic and cook an additional minute.

Stir in tomato paste and cook for 1 minute. Stir in the dried thyme.

Add the V-8 juice and red wine to deglaze the pot. Cook for one more minute while scraping up any brown bits from the bottom of the pot. 

Add the beef stock and water and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 40 minutes.

Stir in the green beans and cook for an additional 20 minutes.

Stir i the cabbage, turnip, and tomatoes and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

Add the potatoes, spinach, corn, and white beans and bring back to a boil. Simmer for 5 more minutes or until the potato is cooked. 

Add salt and pepper to taste if needed.

I hope you enjoy this hearty beef and vegetable soup!

'Till next time,

Caroline 

Tomato Soup



Tomato soup is one of life's finer pleasures if you ask me. The Souper Sunday dream team decided to make a tomato soup all together. That's right. Three know-it-alls in one space trying to come to a consensus. Agreeing on a recipe was hard enough but talk about too many cooks in the kitchen!

We started the evening with Caroline leading us in a camera demostration.  Matt and I both own fancy cameras but we sure don't know how to use them.  

Here we are looking dazed and confused.

Now for the cooking.

Ingredients:

1-28 oz. can of diced tomatoes
1/4 cup of olive oil
3 stalks of celery
4 small carrots
1 large onion
8 cloves of garlic
4 cups of chicken broth
4 bay leaves
3 teaspoons of dried basil
1/2 cup of cream or milk
Salt & ground pepper to taste

Pre-heat your oven to 450 degrees F.

Chop up your celery, onion and garlic in a food processor.

Now, do the same to your carrots.

Strain your canned tomatoes, reserve the juices and spread on a baking sheet. Season with salt and pepper and drizzle 1 Tbsp of olive oil.  Roast your tomatoes until caramelized which should take 15-20 minutes.

Add your celery, carrots, onion and garlic to a saucepan and cook on medium-low heat. Cook about 10 minutes until softened.

Add the roasted tomatoes, juices, chicken broth, bay leaves, basil and milk. Simmer about 15-20 minutes.

Remove bay leaves and puree in blender.

You can't beat tomato soup with a good grilled cheese sandwich!

Enjoy!

'Till next time,

Natalie