Soups – Page 7 – Dragonfly Home Recipes

A few days ago, my husband and I took our dog for a walk in the woods near our house. It was a cloudy day, but the clouds allowed the vivid colors of the trees to shine. It was an enchanting walk through a grassy field and then into the deep, bright woods. I am posting this recipe for vegetable and beef soup because I think it is a perfect soup to have waiting when one returns from a walk in the chilly fall air. It would also taste good on a Halloween evening. The beauty of this soup is that you can put it together in a slow cooker in the morning, and it will be ready and waiting when you come in from whatever activities you have going on. Whatever glamour slow cookers lack, they make up for it in allowing us to go out and do luxurious things like tromping through the gorgeous woods when we would normally be scrambling to get a dinner together. I love my slow cooker. As I have mentioned before, if I am cooking with beef, I much prefer to use organic, grass-fed beef because it tastes better and is better for the planet. It is more expensive to do this, but as we don’t eat meat every day, it doesn’t break our budget. And the colorful vegetables make this soup a delight to eat after a long day.

Hearty Vegetable and Beef Soup

Servings: 6-8
Time: 20 minutes prep. time, about 8 hours cook time
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Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
2 medium carrots, chopped
2 stalks of celery, diced
4 small red potatoes, diced
1 large clove of garlic, minced
14 ounces tomatoes, with their juices
3 cups water
3 teaspoons Better than Bouillon reduced sodium beef base, or the equivalent
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
2 teaspoons of salt

Directions:

Wash and chop the vegetables, and mince the garlic. Brown the beef and onion in a skillet. Place the vegetables in a slow cooker. With a slotted spoon, spoon the beef and onion mixture into the slow cooker. Add the water, Better than Bouillon, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, and salt. Stir gently to combine, and cook in a slow cooker on low heat for about 8 hours. If you are in a pinch, cook on high heat for about 4 hours. Adjust salt to taste. Serve with rustic bread and slices of cheese. Enjoy!

Although it is the middle of May, it was cold and rainy yesterday. Minestrone soup is not something I would usually gravitate toward in May, but on a cold, wet night, it sounded good. My family appreciated it too. There are countless versions of minestrone soup. I love this version, with chopped cabbage and fresh parsley on the top to garnish. The cabbage and parsley give the soup a little brightness, which seems fitting for spring, even when the weather does not feel like spring, or especially when the weather does not feel like spring. The key is to not overcook the vegetables, but to cook them just enough, so they are tender-crisp. I try to use organic vegetables whenever possible, and in-season vegetables whenever possible. Sometimes it is not possible or practical. Sometimes a little comfort food in the middle of May is just the thing we need. Below are photos of the chopped cabbage (I find it to be a beautiful vegetable, like most vegetables) and the finished product, a bowl of minestrone soup.