Grandma's soup !

[Boaz]

Actually it's my mom's soup . Always told Becky it was HER grandmother's soup , thus the name for it . My mom worked , many times she just didn't have time to make soup from scratch . All the ingredients are store bought except browning the meat , peeling/slicing an onion and couple cloves of garlic . Drain water off everything canned except diced tomatoes . Mostly dump and go with the canned veggies . I grew up eating it A LOT ! It's dang good , raised my kids with it regular and they loved it .Here are what you need .

http://i.imgur.com/ha8E9F5.jpg

1 15 oz can of whole kernel corn
1 15 oz can of lima beans
1 15 oz can of tomato sauce
1 15 oz can of sweet peas
1 15 oz can of diced or sliced potatoes (in the picture it's 'whole potatoes' , store didn't have sliced or diced so just sliced em myself '
28 oz can of diced tomatoes
1 large onion
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 teaspoon of salt (canned veggies have salt in em)
1 teaspoon of fine black pepper.
1 lb of hamburger (or beef/pork stew meat)
More salt and pepper can be added after cooking if you want more .

Brown the meat .

http://i.imgur.com/JKsLUKv.jpg

Get a soup pot ready (at least 5 quarts) , put in a quart of water . When meat is browned put in soup pot with water , medium boil for 15 min (Don't let run dry , keep covered with water). Making stock , at the end of 10 min boiling add chopped onion and chopped garlic . Boil 5 min .

http://i.imgur.com/Vbl19aM.jpg

Add canned veggies , cover with water . This will make bout 4 1/2 -5 quarts of soup , Depends how 'thick' you want it . Stir occasionally .

Cook at a high simmer for little over an hour .

http://i.imgur.com/tutkySW.jpg

Finished product looks like this .

http://i.imgur.com/J6DuGZ7.jpg

You can mix and match the veggies . Carrots , any bean , add celery , etc . Never tried it but would bet venison would be good in it . Just an easy soup to make . Of course you can also use fresh veggies , done that and was good .

And with most soup in my country you need ...

http://i.imgur.com/kynabMu.jpg (http://imgur.com/kynabMu)

Enjoy !!

[buckwheatpaul]

Dog gone it....that looks great.....my mother did as you mom did but it was "cleaning out the refrigerator" .... man was it good with cornbread.....makes me hungry.....Paul

[GhostHawk]

My mom taught me to make it from scratch, all of it.

Now I have to admit, it is so much easier to buy stewed, crushed, or diced tomatoes than it is to go to all the work of growing, canning them.

But my best soups are all some kind of cheap meat with a bone, 3-4 hour long simmer, then strain, remove bones, dice meat.

I like to start with Celery, Carrots, Potatoes, Turnips if I have them.
To that I will add whatever else I can find and normally finish with 1/4 to 1/3 of a cabbage.

It is a labor of love. And I believe there is need for both kinds of soup in the world.

Totally agree about the cornbread also.

Nice one brother!

[country gent]

I make it in the slow cooker. Put it on in the morning and let simmer till supper time. It makes a good soup and is filling.

[MaryB]

We always had frozen veg from the gardens(mom has 2 deep freezers big enough to store a body in!) that went into a very similar soup. It was something one of us kids got started after school, when mom got home she would make cornbread or biscuits to go with it. Cheap filling eats to feed a family of 7.

[Blackwater]

Of all the "comfort foods," soups are probably one of the most "comforting!" Thanks, Boaz. May have to try this recipe. Love any soup with plenty of tomatoes in it, and some other stuff to "fill it out!" Add in some good pan or skillet cornbread ("lacy cornbread" I call it), and .... you're gonna' push away from the table a VERY happy person!

[Boaz]

Got several of these mini loaf pans , will fill and freeze then use the food saver and put in the freezer .

http://i.imgur.com/bBnkVzM.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/JpTXmpc.jpg

[Bazoo]

Nice, my Granny did the same. We do it different by using bagged taters instead of canned. Also, we use steak or roast instead of ground beef... but have used deer burger and regular burger, and 50/50 deer/turkey burger.

What we do is take a left over cooked el'cheapo steak and dice it up thin while cold, and put it and a diced onion in a skillet and really sear the steak good, then add it to a pot of water with taters and canned veggies to taste. Sometimes use celery or fresh carrots if we have them. Some dang good stuff right there. Had a friend once add some tomato juice and it was good, but I never could bring myself to do it as i aint a tomato lovin' person.

[GhostHawk]

To my notion the tomato helps break the meat down, tenderizes it. I won't make soup or stew without it except for chicken/turkey which does not need it.

I prefer stewed, but in a pinch anything will do, crushed, diced, you name it.

Boaz that was a good idea with the bread pan for freezing it. Would make a nice stacking block that way.

I have often added steak leftovers to cheap beef bones with not much meat on them. Bone does add flavor, and the marrow fats do cook out to some extent.

My wife and I do disagree. She barely wants her's hot. I like mine cooked, so the flavors blend. And it gets thick, I also like to add a cup of pearled barley for stick to your ribs ness.

You guys have me hungry for a good pot of soup.

[Boaz]

Beef and barley soup ..yea ! Make it regular and bones are good . Takes a while to boil em but worth it .

[Bazoo]

Its always better warmed over to me.

[MaryB]

I do bone stock in the oven for 24 hours or more, that slow cook breaks the bones down and really extracts the minerals and vitamins locked in the bones.

[country gent]

I put the bones in the slow cooker the night before and cook them down for 12 hours the night before to make my stock. I have been known to split or crack the bones also to help the marrow cook out. I have even left them in the slow cooker to cook more when the soup is cooking the next day. Were doing a pot tomorrow. Beef stock, mixed veggies petite diced tomatos onion and potatos. a little garlic and bay leave. Had some stew meat in the freezer for it. Cook all day tomorrow and have it for supper. May even add a little rice to it.

[gwpercle]

Home Made Soup.....very few things in life are better !
Great post . This is an excellent way to use up all those odd cans of vegetables that are taking up room in your pantry or those frozen half bags of vegetables and odds and ends of meat in the freezer . Soup is good !
Gary

[frankenfab]

Gotta have carrots

[Blackwater]

You're right, Boaz, it IS better the day after! All the flavors seem to have melded together better, I think?

And good soups are usually, in my house at least, made from whatever we have on hand that seems like it'll go good together. And never had a bad soup yet! But some are undoubtedly better than others. I once say a Justin Wilson episode where he got so inspired, he was about to "bust," and he jerked around and went back to the fridge, saying, "Lemme see what else I can put in here!" I think a lot of soups get made that way, and tomatoes do indeed help bring many things together in a very good tasting mix.

Except for chicken/turkey soups, as stated above, it just ain't soup around here without tomatoes. And there are so many different things that go with them! Love cabbage in mine. Kind'a gives a fuller, more mellow flavor to the mix. But I think I can honestly say I've never met a soup I didn't like. And with some cornbread, it's even MORE better!

[MaryB]

Soups, stews, chili are always better the next day! Lets those flavors really get working together.

[308Jeff]

Been making something like this since I was about 10 years old. My grandma (actually my step-grandma) is the one who taught me.

Only difference for my recipe is no peas or lima beans, but a can of green beans.

It's the one thing I could eat almost every day.

[buckwheatpaul]

Made Grand ma's soup today....substituted corn, green beans and elbow macaroni for the lima beans and the potatoes....came out great! Charlie...so far you are batting 1000! Paul

[Boaz]

You can sub on the vegies and it still works but you got to have that onion ! Good deal glad ya'll liked it .

[Shiloh]

I make it in the slow cooker. Put it on in the morning and let simmer till supper time. It makes a good soup and is filling.

Filling is good.

Shiloh

[Boaz]

I should have added that this comes out great with smoked or polish sausage too . Just slice and brown , same procedure .