Beefy Lentil Soup

Pin It I don't recall ever having lentils, but on a whim, I bought a bag. After doing a little bit of research online, I figured out some approximate quantities, and made up a recipe of my own. It is full of veggies, beef, and of course, lentils. It's on the stove right now, smelling incredible!

Ingredients:

1 pound lean ground beef
1 1/2 cups dry lentils, rinsed
1 cup chopped carrots
1 large onion, chopped
1 cup chopped celery
1 can cream of mushroom soup (10.5 oz)

1 small can tomato paste (6 oz)

3 cups water
3 cups beef broth
3 cups tomato-vegetable juice cocktail
2 dashes Worcestershire sauce

2 bay leaves

1 teaspoon salt
ground black pepper to taste 

Preparation:

Brown the ground beef, and drain well. In a large pot, add lentils, vegetables, soup, tomato paste, water, broth, juice, beef, and seasonings. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, and cook for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, or until lentils are soft. Enjoy!

Served with warm crusty bread

Fridge Soup

Pin It After a day out, I don't feel much like cooking. So, in an attempt to simplify my cooking experience, I pretty much just threw everything from the fridge into a pot and called it soup! Fortunately, it turned out well :) This particular day had a beautiful variety of brightly colored veggies, but I'm pretty sure that if you throw most any veggies in a pot with broth and simmer, it will taste good. Oh, and I'm not sure if you know this about me, but I believe in butter. And cream. YUM! So, of course, both of those are included in this recipe. I suppose you could leave them out, but what fun would that be?? After the picture, the recipe.

Look at those beautiful veggies! There's a bit of steam blowing up, giving the picture a sort of ethereal feel :)

Fridge Soup

Ingredients:

1 Cup each of your favorite veggies, or whatever is in the fridge (I used red cabbage, carrots, celery, leeks, zucchini, and [1/2 cup] green onion)

5 cups strong broth or stock (chicken, beef, or veggie. Again, the idea is to use what you have)

1/2 - 3/4 Cup heavy cream (or half and half, regular milk, evaporated milk, soy milk)

3 Tbsp butter (or olive oil, vegetable oil) for sauteing the veggies (I used half butter, half olive oil)

2 Bay leaves

Salt and pepper

Any other seasonings you like!

Preparation:

Get the broth on to boil. Saute any vegetable you would like to saute (I usually saute everything, it cooks faster that way). Add veggies to pot, along with bay leaves, salt and pepper (and any other seasoning you are using). Simmer for a while (an hour or two, just use whatever time you have available). Remove the bay leaves and add the cream just before serving. 

Fantastic served with crusty bread on a cold day!

Potato Leek Soup (with a twist)

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I have made potato and leek soup before, and found it to be pretty bland. So I found a basic recipe and twisted it around to make it delicious! Hope you enjoy :)



Potato Leek Soup (with a twist)

Ingredients:

5 Cups strong chicken broth (throw an extra bouillon cube in if you are making it with them, the potatoes soak up so much salt that it's OK if it is strong broth)**
2-3 Leeks
1 Medium Onion
5-6 garlic cloves
3/4 Cup butter
1/2-3/4 Cup dry white or pink wine (DO NOT USE FRUITY WINE! But if all you have in the fridge is a pink table wine, that will work! It did for me... ;)
3 Jumbo Russet potatoes (maybe 5-6 regular sized? It's OK if it isn't exact here)
3-4 Stalks celery
3/4-1 Cup Carrots (sticks/chips/chopped, any way will work)
2 Bay leaves
1/4-1/2 Evaporated milk (or heavy cream, if you're feeling decadent!)
Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

Get the broth going in a big pot, over medium heat (especially if you are making your own). Trim most of the green off of the leeks, and cut the white lengthwise to rinse out any sand. Slice into about 1/8-1/4" wide pieces. Chop the onion into similar sized pieces. Finely chop or crush the garlic. Melt most of the butter in a medium frying pan over medium heat (reserve about 1/4 Cup), and put the onions, leeks and garlic in with it. Keep the veggies going until pretty soft, starting to brown just a little. Deglaze the pan with the wine (pour into the pan with the veggies and stir/scrape up any tasty bits that may have stuck to the bottom). Let the veggies cook in here for a couple minutes. Dump this into the pot with the broth, and toss in the bay leaves. Dice the potato into 1/2" cubes (leave the skin on, it's SO tasty!). Scoop half of the remaining butter into the frying pan, and lightly saute the cubed potatoes. Toss the potatoes into the soup. Dice up the celery and carrots (carrot sticks: cut in half, carrot chips: leave whole). Scoop the remaining butter into the frying pan, and lightly saute them together. Toss those into the pot with the soup. Let this cook down for 30-60 minutes, until the vegetables are as soft as you want them to be. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Just before serving, mix in the evaporated milk. Some people like to use a stick blender at this point to puree the soup, but not me. It's up to you.

Delicious hearty meal, great served with fresh-baked rolls!!

**If you want to go totally vegetarian on this, you can substitute vegetable broth for chicken broth, I'm sure it would be just as tasty :)

This may seem like a lot of chopping and sauteing, but I promise it is worth it! And really, with the measurements, go with your gut. If you like more onions, go ahead. No milk? Just fine. And if there is any extra veggies you think might be tasty, toss 'em in! I have added zucchini and yellow squash. I think other "root type" vegetables would be excellent, also. The only "hard number" in this recipe is probably the broth, and only so that there is enough liquid for the solids pieces.