Recipes

[Luvsmyfam]

For the life of me,I cannot get a good broth for my veggie beef soup.I always use cabbage, carrots,celery,onion and potato gorgeous veggies, and stew meat for meat.Better than broth is just not cutting it.All suggestions will be appreciated.Thanks bunches

[Zhills]

Aunt Gladys’ Soup 

1 lb of your favorite beef*, cut into bite sized chunks.

3 lg potatoes cut into 1/2” cubes
3 raw carrots or 1 small can
2 celery ribs
1 sm onion, diced
1 can diced tomatoes (14 oz) undrained
1/2 cup okra (optional)

I have added a small amount (1/4 cup) of cut up cabbage or greens after 20 mins.

Add 1 can chicken broth and 1 can beef broth (I use  ‘Better than Bouillon’ and water)

Salt and pepper to taste. (broth is already salted)

Cook until veggies are tender and meat is done. About 30 minutes.

Broth can be diluted with water to obtain desired taste. Makes 3 quarts

*I use top sirloin but any beef will work.  Use a tender cut or cook it first for a long time,'til tender!

I have made this one for 50 years!  Always a hit!

My kids ate this for after school snacks and never got tired of it!  Great with cornbread!

[RedTop]

I only make soup with leftover meat.  Beef roast is cooked low and slow in beef broth, several onions and a heaping tablespoon of beef base.  I make gravy from that broth, and use any leftover gravy in the soup.  

If I make soup out of leftover pork, that pork has been cooked low and slow with onions, cola, brown sugar and chipotle peppers.  I save that broth for the soup, which goes well with canned tomatoes.  If I cook pork in broth and onions and make gravy out of it, that gravy goes into the soup.   

Other options are an envelope of Lipton dry onion soup, a can of Rotel, a can of Manwich, etc.

[Carmie]

Good beef vegetable soup calls for a beef bone.  The bone and marrow contains all of the flavor.

My parents owned a resturant.  Beef vegetable soup was a BIG  seller.  Customers wanted to buy it in quarts to take  home.

Start the soup with a beef bone and beef meat and add your cabbage, onions and celery at the same time.  Add a bay leaf and the usual salt and pepper.  Cook until the broth is rich and the meat falls apart.  It will take a few hours.

Remove  the bone and strip any meat from the bone and put it in the broth along with whatever veggies you desire. You can use fresh or frozen.  Add a can of whole or crushed tomatoes...or use fresh.

I make my soup with a bag or two of mixed frozen veggies and add some fresh cubed potatoes last when almost done.  In the summer, I add fresh veggies to the frozen ones.

You need a beef bone, cabbage and tomatoes and a bay leaf.   Everything else can be customized to your taste.

It takes time to properly simmer the bones and veggies to get a good flavor.

[Etoile308]

My favorite beef soup is Beef Barley. I like to go heavy on the tomatoes. For the broth I use a combination depending on what I have. If I can find inexpensive beef soup bones in the grocery store I'll start with using those for the broth. 

[Zhills]

@Carmie 

You cooked cabbage that long?  Always heard to add that last.

"Can you cook cabbage too long?"

"Overcooking will result in limp, pasty cabbage and produce a very unpleasant smell. The unpleasant smell is caused by the sulfur compounds that are released when the cabbage is cooked too long."  ???

[Scooby Doo]

You can buy beef bone broth in the carton in your store on the soup aisle.

[Carmie]

@Zhills  Nope, it always went in first.  I never tried it going in last.

I guess either way is good.  I love cabbage.

I never noticed a sulfur smell and the cabbage tastes sweet. It is soft though.  I cut it in small pieces and it disappears and is not chunky.

[deepwaterdotter]

I make this recipe from Southern Living magazine in my big slow cooker:

2 lbs cubed stew meat

2 cups chopped carrots

1 cup chopped celery

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp thyme

1/2 tsp basil

1 bay leaf

1 tsp garlic powder

7 cups beef broth

28-oz can diced tomatoes with juice

4 cups wide egg noodles

1 cup frozen peas

Stir beef, carrots, celery, onion, salt, thyme, basil, bay leaf, garlic powder, broth, and tomatoes in slow cooker. Cover and cook on high until beef is falling apart, 4-5 hours.

Stir in noodles.  Cover and cook on high until noodles are tender, 10-20 minutes.

Stir in peas until warmed.

[4kitties]

I almost always make my own chicken stock, but rarely make beef stock.  I buy the beef stock sold at Costco.  It is very good!  In those 32 oz cartons, 6 to a box.  

I usually add a tablespoon or so of Better than bullion low sodium Vegetable base to it too.

@Luvsmyfam 

I bet you can find a good beef stock in the 32oz carton at your grocery store.  

I have cut way back on my red meat but I like the beef flavor in my veggie soup.