Beefy Vegetable Soup

It’s actually kinda sorta hinting occasionally of Fall here in northeast Louisiana and that means— soup’s on!

Beefy Vegetable Soup

Ingredients:
1 pound of hamburger meat, browned and drained
Six medium potatoes, diced
3 to four onions, diced
1 (16-ounce) package frozen mixed vegetables
1-2 cups beef broth
1cup shredded carrots
1 bay leaf
1 clove minced garlic
Salt and Pepper to taste

Brown a pound of hamburger meat, drain the grease, and set aside. Clean and dice potatoes and onions. Cover with water and bring to a boil. When they’re “fork tender”, add beef, frozen mixed vegetables and shredded carrots. Stir until the heat comes back up.

Season with minced garlic. Season to taste with salt and pepper, add a bay leaf, and let it cook on low about thirty minutes.

*Kitchen tip—whenever I’m browning hamburger meat, I try to brown twice what I need so I can date and freeze the remainder. It’s so handy to have as a quick recipe base

*And another tip? Tonight, I did a variation of the potatoes and onions above. I had smothered some last night and had some leftovers, so I added them to the soup pot. Yes’m! Extra flavoring. Smothered potatoes and onions are not a recipe. I repeat. They are not a recipe, but I’ll go over the basics in case you’re unaware of this culinary wonder.

Start your skillet potatoes and Vidalia onions by adding them to a cast iron skillet and smothering them within an inch of their little cubed selves in a bath of butter and a bit of vegetable oil (the oil is so the butter doesn’t burn, Virginia. Now listen.) Sprinkle with crushed red pepper, black pepper, and salt.

All of this non recipe goodness was learned at Mama’s house (AKA Queen of Us All.) Thx Mom!

Please do not be stingy with the butter.
For the love of my ancestors. Just don’t.

If you are underprivileged and can’t get a hold of Vidalia onions in your area, I will intercede for you while you choose a lesser variety. Here it comes. Wait for it…Bless your heart.

One more thing. Smother this over a medium heat and do not stop until everything is soft and some of the precious cubes are blackened (translated burnt). If you should stop short of this step, my people and I will know that you are a feint hearted weenie and couldn’t hang.

If this were a recipe, I couldn’t and wouldn’t suggest any of you were feint-hearted weenies but it isn’t, so I can. Much love and happy eating.

Hugs,
Shellie