Soup is my favorite winter food, and I’ve learned that a bowl of brothy goodness is also easy on the waistline if you avoid noodles, cream bases, and sides of cheese and crackers. One of my top ten homemade soups is Beef Vegetable because that is my mom’s bestest ever. There is no comparison between homemade soups and canned, though you will see in my recipes that I do use canned broths and frozen vegetables, so I’m not a complete purist.
Anyway, I made my best batch of Beef Vegetable Soup last weekend, and here is how I did it.
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| Soup on the left and the awesome fat separator pitcher on the right. |
Beef Broth (this is modified from Betty Crocker’s Cookbook)
One beef chuck roast
6 c. cold water
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. dried thyme leaves
1 carrot, cut up in chunks
1 stalk celery with leaves, cut up in chunks
1 small onion, cut up in chunks
5 peppercorns
3 whole cloves
3 sprigs parsley, or 1 TBS dried parsley
1 bay leaf
Coat a large pot (mine is 8 qt.) with cooking spray or drizzle with a small amount of oil. Heat over medium heat. Brown all sides of the beef. Add water. Heat to boiling. Add all remaining ingredients, return to a boil, cover and simmer for 3 hours.
Remove beef and set aside. Strain broth through a colander, then through a smaller sieve or cheesecloth. Remove fat. (The separator in the picture is the bomb.) Return broth to the pan. Chop beef and add to broth.
Soup
48 oz. canned beef broth
2 c. good quality frozen sweet corn
2 c. cabbage cut in thin strips (regular or Napa)
28 oz. can diced tomatoes (do not drain)
2. c fresh green beans in 1-inch pieces
2 c. frozen lima beans
3/4 tsp. salt
sprinkle of pepper
1 TBS tomato paste
Add all the soup ingredients. Simmer for 1-2 hours.
I know the cabbage and the lima beans may scare some of you, but they are key ingredients. Enjoy!
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