Homemade Vegetable Beef Soup

I love homemade vegetable beef soup. It's one of those comfort foods that just makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside.  My mother used to make it for us and store it in the fridge in a large Tupperware pitcher so that when we got home from school we could pour some in a mug and stick it in the microwave. It was a great after school snack on cold cool Louisiana winter days.

We always ate our vegetable soup with saltine crackers, but when I got married, my husband introduced me to soup with cornbread on the side. His mother gave us her soup recipe and over the years I've tweaked it a bit. In fact, I rarely make it the same way twice. I usually just make it with what I have on hand. I've decided I don't like potatoes in my soup. I'd rather fill up on beef. Big, juicy chunks of beef. And, I always make a huge pot (or two) and freeze it for easy weeknight meals.

We don't add any pasta to our soup. My husband doesn't like it and I don't really care either way. I prefer cabbage in it, but he doesn't really care for cabbage. Sometimes I finely chop the cabbage so that you can't distinguish it from onions and he's none the wiser. My mother used to put brussels sprouts in hers. Uh...no...no brussels sprouts in my soup.

People are always asking us for recipes and some we share...some we don't. I have no problem sharing my homemade soup recipe. There's isn't really anything special about it. And, as I said earlier, I never make it the same way twice. In fact, once I browned a bunch of ground meat and used it in place of chopped beef. Another time, I didn't feel like going to the store so I left the meat out completely for a great vegetable soup. I encourage anyone trying it to put their own spin on it, too.

So, without further ado, here how I made it this time.

Ingredients for 20 quarts of soup

2 - 48 oz containers of Low Sodium Swanson Chicken Broth
1 - 64 oz bottle of Low Sodium V8 Juice
1 - 14.5 oz can Hunt's Diced Fire Roasted tomatoes or any canned tomatoes
2 - 15 oz cans Hunt's Tomato Sauce
2 - 10 oz cans Ro-Tel Diced Tomatoes and Green Chilies
1 - 12 oz can Hunt's Tomato Paste
2 - 16 oz bags frozen Bird's Eye Cut Green Beans or any good, frozen green beans
2 - 16 oz bags frozen Bird's Eye Sweet Kernel Corn or any good, frozen sweet corn
1 - 32 oz bag frozen Veg-All or any good frozen vegetable mix
2 - 15.5 oz cans Goya Black Beans or any other beans that you like or have on hand
3 - large sweet onions, finely chopped
7 lbs boneless chuck roast, cut into small pieces. I bought two 3.5 lb roasts.
All purpose seasoning and kosher salt

Get cooking...

Set your burner to medium heat. In a 20 quart pot, combine the chicken broth and V8 juice. Stir in the canned tomatoes then the tomato paste. Stir well and continue stirring so the tomato paste doesn't stick to the bottom. You want to get it incorporated into the liquid. Add the veggies. Keep stirring. Remove the labels from the cans and put the cans in the dishwasher so they'll be nice and clean for a Pinterest upcycling project in your near future...or don't. In either case, take some time to clear the clutter. Now is when I chop up my onions. If I don't feel like doing a fine chop, I sometimes just cut the onions in half and then slice it up finely. We like onions, so we often cook our onions this way. If you have picky eaters, finely chopped onion is easily lost in the soup. Next, with a sharp knife, cut the meat into small, bite size pieces. A sharp knife is the key. It also makes it easy to trim away any fat. As you get a nice little pile of meat, add it to the soup. Stir. Add seasoning and salt by sprinkling generously. Stir.

Now that all of your ingredients are in the pot, add enough water to bring the level to within an inch of the rim of the pot. Turn the heat up to medium high. Stir. You want to bring it to a slow rolling boil. I usually keep it at a gentle boil for at least two hours, stirring every so often, then turn the heat down a bit and cook another hour or so. This ensures that the meat is tender and the flavors are well combined. The liquid will reduce to about three inches below the rim, concentrating the flavors even more.

For cornbread, we prefer the Jiffy Corn Muffin mix. It's a sweeter cornbread that complements the savory soup. I mix two boxes and bake in an oblong dish. When it's done, I remove it from the oven and cut it immediately then cover it with butter or margarine so that it drips into the crevices.

I usually start my soup early on a Saturday or Sunday morning so that it can cook while I'm working around the house. By late afternoon the house smells wonderful. We enjoy an early meal, then I ration it out into Glad Freezerware 8 cup containers. By bedtime, they have cooled enough to put them into the freezer. DO NOT put hot soup in your refrigerator or freezer. You run the risk of it spoiling as well as heating up the environment and spoiling everything around it.

And that's it. Easy peasy. Delicious and nutritious.

Enjoy!

2009 Black Pot Cook-off - First Place Pork!

The Black Pot Cook-off fundraiser was held at Angelle Park in Cecilia on October 4. Our friends, Brook and Sam, asked if we'd participate and Sean agreed. He is not a competition cooker, but thought it would be fun and besides, it was for a good cause.

They hauled both our Cajun Grill and our Dixie Backwoods Smoker to the park on Friday night. We got there around 8:30 Saturday morning and lit the fires. Sam said she would register the team, but she needed a name. Sean quickly answered, "Team Grosse Affair"! We started cooking at 9:00. It was a beautiful day, not too warm with a nice breeze, perfect for barbecuing and hanging out with friends.

Sean had marinated ten racks of pork spare ribs, which is what he was entering in the competition. He had also marinated some beef short ribs, which he had never cooked before and wanted to try. While he was putting the pork ribs in the smoker and the beef ribs on the grill, I started on the side dishes. First I gave him some thick cut bacon to crisp on the grill. Then I mixed up a large batch of my baked beans. I put them in a disposable pan and placed them on the grill to slow cook. Sean season the rice dressing mix and I cooked it down for a couple of hours or so, then I mixed it in with a big batch of rice.

I had baked four dozen cupcakes, which I iced with buttercream in green and yellow, Cecilia's school colors. I donated them to be sold at the concession stand.

When they started to announce the winners I wanted to walk over to the main pavilion, but Sean wanted to hang back because he really didn't think they would call our team. Brook headed over there and before we knew what was happening he was calling across the field for Sean to join him. Team Grosse Affair had placed first in the pork category! So I grabbed my camera and we all headed over there.

The first place winners in each category were awarded an oblong black pot and lid, a small round black pot and lid, and various seasonings and mixes. After several pics were taken by family and friends, we headed back to the campsite. We were joined by several people who were there as spectators and others who had also participated in the cook off. Everyone wanted to get some of those award winning ribs. And, they had to check out his smoker, too. At the end of the night, when all was said and done, there wasn't a rib to be found!


Everyone should be as lucky as I am to have a husband who cooks award winning food for them. It has gotten to the point that dining out for me is second to eating in.

Everything Sean cooks, especially his ribeyes and pork ribs, always takes first place with me!