VEGETABLE BEEF SOUP
Take whatever leftover vegetables you might have in the refrigerator (corn, field peas, limas, green beans, or the like) and combine with other basic vegetables after they have cooked. Begin by chopping up a whole onion, several stalks of celery, a few carrots, and a couple of potatoes. Cook in beef broth (you can buy canned broth, use the paste which mixes with water, or buy bones to make your own) until almost tender. At that point, if you like them (I do), add two or three sliced turnips. They don’t take nearly as long to cook as the other veggies so should be introduced in the cooking process relatively late. Meanwhile, brown ground beef (or venison, which works equally well in this recipe) in a bit of olive oil. When it is completely browned, add it and the leftover vegetables to the cooked ones. Salt and pepper to taste and allow to simmer slowly for an hour or so in order for the flavors to blend. Served with a big piece of cornbread this makes a fine meal.
TIP: You can take pretty much the same approach with the carcass of a baked wild turkey or the dark meat of a wild turkey which has been cooked until it comes away from the bones. In this case, be sure to use the turkey stock.
JC
—Celebrating Southern Appalachian Food written by Jim Casada and Tipper Pressley
A big pot of vegetable soup and a cake of cornbread really hits the spot on the cold days we’ve been having. I still don’t have any snow, but I did see where folks much farther south than us got a little yesterday.
Some of our biggest snows come in February so I’m still hoping for a big one before spring of the year gets here.
Last night’s video: Spending Our Christmas Gift.
Tipper
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Growing up in a German home we always had soup at dinner. I never ate it so I always had to wait for the main course. As I got older I started to like most soups. How I wish I could have a bowl of Mutti’s soup now.
I love homemade soup with or without meat. This post brought back a wonderful memory for me. When I was growing up, my grandmother always had a large garden and canned or froze all she could. There would always be tomatoes, okra, corn, onions and green beans left over at the end of canning season. My grandmother would cook a pot of stew beef and if she had any stew left over, it would go into a pot with the leftover vegetables which made the most delicious soup ever. Cornbread was the preferred side but crackers would do. Eating that soup made all the hard work of gardening and canning so worth it. Thank you so much for sharing today.
I never developed a real taste for beef. When I was growing up beef was meat for the elite. We kept a few dairy cattle but sold the bulls and heifers who didn’t milk good. We got a little money and the upper crust sated their desires for red meat.
We did kill a pig or two every fall. The hams were salt cured and sold for cash. The rest of the meat was used for fatback, bacon, sausage, et cetera. We also raised chickens. Not a few but hundreds and thousands, so their meat and eggs were an ample supply of protein for my childhood family.
Soup: We ate a lot of vegetable soup. Our soup had little to no animal essence. It was based on a combination of taters, maters and onions with whatever else was available at the time. Corn, green beans, store bought dried beans, leatherbritches beans, cabbage, carrots all in their time. Sometimes it was just the three base ingredients (that properly cooked and seasoned is exceptional.) There was always a pan of cornbread on the table when the meal started. At then end we were fighting for the last crumbs.
Later in life after I had acquiesced to my wife’s fondness for beef, I developed a severe case of gout and when was told I needed to cut out beef, I gave it up completely. That meant I had to stop eating from fast food places and popular restaurants. It didn’t present a problem, it provided an excuse!
Did I miss out on anything? I don’t think so!
I think we are taught from infants what is good to eat and learn to like what is available.
Tipper & Matt, I sure did enjoy y’all’s date day & watching y’all go to the thrifts stores. I love thrift stores! Such a simple day of thrifting & eating a good meal is my kind of special. Wish other folks would slow down & enjoy the simple things of life. They sure are missing out. I love simple living & never have been a person who needed the finer things of life to be happy. The first time my parents took me to the mountains at 9 yrs old (Maggie Valley & Cherokee) I told them that I wanted a cabin on the side of the mountain with nothing but what you absolutely needed in the cabin & 2 rocking chairs on the porch & one chair better have cobwebs on it (meaning no one had been there to sit in it). I also said I wanted to have a cannon & fire it off a couple of times a year just let people know not to come up there. Heck, at 74 yrs old, I still feel the same way.
That soup & cornbread sound perfect right now ! I loved your “date “ video last night ! I’m looking forward to hearing how the boys like the adorable little red chair !
I will try to make this short. When I was a young kid we were visiting my aunt. She made a big pot of vegetable soup for all of us. I had a pod of something in my bowl that I didn’t know what it was. Without looking, mother said it was a pod of okree, so I took a bite of it, mama lied to me, it was a pod of hot pepper! Mother and me had many goods laughs about the hot okree.
Yes, a pot of soup and cornbread can’t be beat, especially on these cold days. I made a pot of vegetable beef soup last week similar to your recipe but I always add canned tomatoes. It’s one of ours favorites but I like most any kind of soup.
Funny you post this today. I am making beef stew today.
This sounds like my kind of recipe! I LOVE to make soups and always put a lot of containers of soup in the freezer for cold weather. When the summer garden bounty is plenty, one of my favorite things to do is make large pots of vegetable soup like your family, Randy. These soups taste absolutely wonderful in the winter months when the garden is sleeping. My other favorite soup to make is nourishing chicken and veggie soup that simmers all day and makes a wonderful and rich broth. I use whole chickens, chicken legs or wings, etc to get all the nutrients possible out of the bones. Stay warm everyone! We had windchills near -30 this morning here. Going to be a very cold weekend next weekend as well with actual temps projected to be as low as -18 right now.
I’m actually planning to make a big pot of soup for supper tonight. Can’t beat it on these cold days. We didn’t get any snow but it sure is cold. Stay warm everyone!
There’s nothing like a good, tasty bowl of soup at any time of the year cold season or not. I make and eat soups all year. The same goes for a stew. As for ingredients, I often make what my mama would call it, ‘everything but the kitchen sink soup’ – anything left over in fridge with other fresh added in as desired. I don’t think there is a ‘wrong’ ingredient when it comes to making a soup. I like one pot meals be they baked, boiled or stewed. A nice salad on the side if desired. Cornbread, biscuits, bannock, crackers, grilled cheese – it all works well together. Have a great week Wilson Holler family and Acorns.
“Bannock” is a new one on me. Can you describe it?
Hello Ed – I responded to your question on tomorrows post (January 20th) as I wasn’t sure if you would come back to this one.
Vegetable soup with a pone of cornbread is a meal fit for a king. My soup is made with a lot of cabbage and potatoes. Home-canned tomatoes give vegetable soup the biggest flavor boost, especially when using Cherokee Purple tomatoes. My area didn’t get any snow either, but it’s been colder than whizz.
I really enjoy vegetable soup and cornbread or chili and cornbread or soup beans and cornbread. Seems to be a running theme here.
As always praying for Granny.
Leave out the taters and add some macaroni-type pasta (like elbows or ditalini) and you have minestrone, which Northern Italians (like getting up into the Alps) have eaten probably since the Ancient Rome days in some form or other. And if you need some cornbread to make it a feast of sorts, take polenta that has hardened (cornmeal mush tends to do that when it’s cooled down, like in the fridge!), cut it up into long rectangular “logs,” throw ’em in the skillet with your fat of choice (butter or bacon grease) till they’re golden brown.
“Hill folks” are “hill folks” throughout the world. It might surprise you how similar the foodways can be.
Do you know the story of the Waldensians?
A sect of Christians that was always being suppressed during the Middle Ages, who needed to take refuge in Protestant nations starting in the 16th C. Anyway, they come from the part of Italy I’m talking about. I don’t know how many of them settled in the North American colonies starting in the 17th C., though, and whether they ever got up into the hills in places like Virginia.
Greetings Tipper and fellow Acorns! It sure is a day to stay indoors around here. I woke up to -2° and a feels like of -25° with strong winds from the west up to 40 mph . I’ll be wearing my sherpa-lined clothing for sure. I hope ya’ll are safe and warm! It was great, Tipper, to read of such delicious soup on such a cold day! I’m about to make some cabbage and potato soup some bacon thrown in for good measure. I really enjoyed last night’s video. I’m so glad you and Matt just got away for a day. I hope you’ll do it again, soon. Love and blessings to all!
It was 37 in Daytona when we got up, but the wind will keep me inside for a while today. I almost got frostbite watching those two NFL playoff games on tv yesterday. Two head coaches who chose to go bareheaded in that fridgid weather looked absolutely dumb, bless their hearts. Didn’t their mama teach them anything about that? Looked to me like they needed some of that soup and cornbread.
We got enough snow in the Richmond, Virginia suburbs to cover the ground. It was pretty while it was falling. Our roads are clear, although there was a warning about black ice.
I keep a butter bowl in the freezer and add any leftover vegetables from supper until the bowl is full, and then make vegetable soup. I use canned deer meat and canned tomato juice and a little garlic, and cook it all day in the crockpot. With homemade biscuits or bread, it’s wonderful on a cold day!
I love to make homemade vegetable beef soup. It’s so much better if you have a good meaty/fatty soup bone to add to the pot with your stew beef chunks. I always use whatever leftover vegetables are in my fridge too. I love cornbread with chili soup and about any other kind. ..but my favorite with veggie beef soup is a big slab of homemade bread lathered with peanut butter. That’s just how my mama always served it when I was growing up. I think with the cold wind chills predicted over the next week, we are all gonna need a big pot of soup. Hubby and I both enjoyed your video of thrift shopping and going out yo dinner. It looked like my kind of date.
Soup sounds good! I make a vegetable soup and add BBQ sauce. It gives it a spicy taste.
Yesterday was a Tipper kind of day. I made Orange pull a part bread and sweet potatoes,. We had chicken and dumplings, yams and green beans. I’ve used your sweet potato recipe several times, but this was my first time for the bread. Took a while but it was worth it. I had no trouble because I’ve watched the video probably 5 or 6 times. Wrote down detailed directions and drew a picture on how to cut the dough.
Thank you for the recipes!
My husband makes a wonderful pot of homemade vegetable soup! We always have cornbread with it too.
I grew up eating veggie soup. lots of time there was no meat added. as a kid didn’t realize there was no meat to add. I learned to can a veggie soup mix. when opened adding meat & potatoes or whatever sounds good makes for a quick meal. we got more snow overnight. and tonight supposed to be down to 5 . I’m so ready for spring and starting the garden!! God bless y’all!
Good Morning Tipper, Matt and Acorns. W still have snow on the north side of the hill behind the trailer and on the front side of the trailer and on the cars. It is 18F this morning. The garbage man come about 9AM on Mondays so I took a small bag out. We don’t have much trash.I could take it to the transfer station on my way to town but the fella that owns the trash service went to school with me and he has about 8 employees and I like to help out. TY so much for taking us on your “Date” yesterday. I used to gad about like that with my fiance’. We would go every weekend to Jonesborough, Bristol and Abingdon. Then we would always go to Cracker Barrel in Abingdon. We would get apples to snack on at the Jonesborough Flea Market in the fall. I love a no tomato Vegetable Beef Soup. I have to get out later today and scrounge up a loaf of bread and go to the pharmacy for Ed so I’m gonna get some soup bones and make some soup to perk us up. TY for the “recipe.” I hope if you get time and feel led to doing it on a cold day to make one of your Folk Art Angles and film it. I love them so much. You should design one and sell them as Christmas Cards or a box of blank cards to use as Thank You, Thinking of You or Get Well cards. I keep everyone here, our mess of a country and the folks up Wilson Hollow in my prayers. I love y’all.
My wife makes a soup very similar to your recipe. She adds cabbage to it too. It’s been a staple at our house for over 50 years. With cornbread baked in a cast iron skillet it does truly make a fine meal.
cornbread makes any meal better
Amen- but only if it is unsweet- sweet cornbread and Jiffy Mix is Yankee corn bread! I ate some cornbread and milk last night, so good, my tongue was slapping the roof of my mouth!
thank you for the recipe, no snow in Dahlonega Georgia, but tonight will be the coldest night of the week, God bless you friends and have a great day, thank you for praying for me and my brother and please continue to do so, God bless you very much
I am not a cook except sometimes in my mind. That art of timing the addition of various parts I understand in concept but it is doubtful I would do it well. Anyhow, it illustrates how skill is so necessary to mastery. I don’t think you gave more than a passing thought to the idea timed addition in writing your post. Me, I would have thought I needed to write a book. Most of us, I think, do not identify our assumptions in writing or speaking. We tend to assume an understanding similar to our own. (Teachers would be an obvious exception.) Enough of that, this is certainly soup, stew and chili weather. Wish I could share my happy parsley with you.
My wife and I just started a crockpot of soup. We’re using ham left over from Thanksgiving for the meat. Several different vegetables but no onions. We use garlic. There’ll be enough for the two of to have at least a bowl a day all week – two on really cold days..
This will be a good day for vegetable soup! I prefer chicken in mine or just the veggies.
I enjoyed going along with y’all on your “Date.”Thrifting and Longhorn’s . A very nice day!
My mother made the best beef vegetable soup I have ever tasted. I haven’t been able to replicate it. I use the same ingredients but it just doesn’t taste like Mama’s. We awoke to 23 degrees this morning. Yesterday there was a dusting of snow which is still on the ground due to the cold. My one little yellow hyacinth which bloomed last week is gone, frozen by the cold. I surely am looking forward to spring.
Vegetable soup & cornbread is my favorite. I use stew meat or ground beef in mine along with canned tomatoes. I’ve already been thinking on what soups or chilis I’m going to make this weekend as we are forecasted for very cold temps and snow here in Arkansas. Stay warm and hoping you get some snow soon.
Yes Southeastern Alabama, panhandle of Florida and southwest Georgia got some yesterday. Less than a half of an inch. It was nice to see but only snowed a couple of hours then by noon time was just about all gone. Not like the snow we got last year on the 21st of Jan.
I grew up eating tomato based vegetable soup. Neither mine or my wife’s family made it with meat. We seldom had beef and any chicken not fried was used for dumplings when I was growing up. It is not homemade but I have tried the Campbells beef vegetable soup and didn’t like it. Vegetable soup and a chunk of cornbread ( not Jiffy Mix) can’t be beat even with a stick on those cold rainy/snowy days. I looked at the extended weather forecast yesterday and this coming weekend looks interesting-maybe ice rather than snow and it also looked like there might be some below average cold days and nights ahead for several weeks. I have never understood how you can predict the weather more than a few days ahead of time.
This is to the reference from yesterday’s post, “Where Could I Go But To The Lord”.
Randy, the church we attend now preaches hellfire and brimstone and we see people saved all the time. I just don’t like all of their music. Seems that people like mindless, repetitious words to worship God, I don’t.
I have heard these songs with repetitious words (copied you) called dementia songs.
My wife Yvonne died of the consequences of dementia in 2018.
Ed, I know dementia is nothing to make fun of. I have had several family members and friends die from it. I didn’t mean to hurt anyone’s feelings. I can understand you feeling like this. Personally for me after my Daddy died from a heart attack and my wife dying during heart surgery. I don’t like hearing anyone say”serious as a heart attack.” My wife never had a heart attack but was so bad she could have had one at anytime. I am sorry.