Monday, September 21, 2009

Mom's Homemade Vegetable Soup


My mom makes this soup and so do I. I thought we did it exactly the same way until we compared notes when I was making mine for the blog. I’ve made a few adjustments over the years without even knowing it. I’m sure you will make your own adjustments to my recipe. That is what cooking is all about.

I actually used a nice pot roast to make my soup. I cooked it the night before (slow roasted in the oven with potatoes and carrots) and used the leftovers for the soup. You can do that with any kind of beef roast. I haven’t tried it with chicken, it would probably be different, but good. When I was newly married I couldn’t afford a pot roast. So I would make this same soup with a pound of ground beef that I browned. It was delicious. I still do it that way on occasion, simply because we like the flavor.

Let’s talk a bit more about the beef used in the soup. You can use cooked leftover roast, hamburger that has been browned or a raw roast if you are going to cook your soup all day. It tastes best if you are using a raw roast to at least brown both sides in the pan in a little bit of vegetable oil before you add the other ingredients. I have been known to take a raw chuck roast, dump in the rest of the ingredients and let it cook for hours, it tastes great. You can also put it all in a crock-pot. In other words, it would be difficult to ruin this one.

Ingredients:


Beef-I used about 3 cups of cooked leftover pot roast with the pan juices. It made a very meaty soup. You can use more or less meat, whatever you prefer or whatever you have.
½ medium head of cabbage, chunked into pieces
2 potatoes, cut into bite sized pieces
1 large bag of frozen mixed vegetables (you can use canned veggies, or fresh ones…frozen is easier)
1 cup V8 or tomato juice
Approx. 7-8 cups water

In a large pan (soup pot) put the beef, cabbage, potatoes, and frozen vegetables. Add water just to the level of the other ingredients, add the tomato juice or V-8. Bring to a boil, reduce to simmer and cover. If your meat is cooked, this can be done in about an hour, but I really prefer cooking this for several hours to let the flavors blend. If your meat is raw, it will take several hours. You want to cook it until the meat is very tender and falling apart. If you use a raw roast, use 2 forks to separate the meat into bite-sized pieces before serving. Salt to taste. Enjoy.


10 comments:

Chrissy...The Apothecary Shop said...

Now that sounds good enough to eat,it is getting to be that time of year again!! Hope your day is a good one,Chrissy

Happy To Be/ Gl♥ria said...

Oh YUMMY!! girl that looks wonderful oh with some french bread and butter Yum...Thanks now I'm hungry and its only 8am here...Hugs and smiles Gl♥ria

koralee said...

Nothing is as yummy as homemade soup...yours looks amazing!

Let it Shine said...

Yum, this sounds delicious. Now that it is finally cooling off, I may have to try this.

Take care,
Alyshia

JUST ME said...

It's retardedly cold here in CO. I wish I was eating that instead of the lame microwave dinner I just made.

Sue said...

Chrissy-I eat soup all year long, it is my comfort food!

Gloria-warm bread and butter would be the perfect side dish.

Koralee-I love to make soups, and this one always reminds me of my childhood.

Alyshia-Thanks for stopping by and commenting.

JM-I eat microwave dinners sometimes too, but they don't compare to homemade, do they?

Unknown said...

That looks SO good!

Sue said...

Shan-thanks! You love soup the way I do!

BrightenedBoy said...

That looks SO GOOD.

Sue said...

BB-Thanks, it is so easy to make.