We've been gone for days and the refrigerator and freezer are chocked full of vegetables both fresh and frozen cartons of leftover roast beef, stock from the last turkey I cooked, cartons of dibs and dabs of leftover corn, peas, carrots, green beans, Lima beans, and cooked rice. Just any bit of leftovers I have I freeze for soup. Sometimes I just start a zip lock bag and add to it with each leftover vegetable I have.
There are tomatoes I dehydrated last summer and tomatoes I froze from the garden after slipping off their skins. I found okra that had been sliced and frozen too, There are hot peppers I have dried so two of them went into the big soup kettle on the stove today. The ingredients are all approximate as they were in some cases "co-mingled"!!
Here are the ingredients I "found" and used for the soup:
2 quarts homemade turkey stock
4 c. cubed roast beef
1/2 large head of cabbage sliced and cubed
3 large carrots quartered and sliced
1 large turnip peeled and cubed
2 parsnips quartered and sliced
1 large onion diced
3 large cloves of garlic mashed and sliced
1/2 c. frozen okra
2 quarts frozen tomatoes
1/4 c. dried tomato
4 c. green beans
2 c. peas
4 c. corn
1/4 c. pearl barley
2 dried hot peppers, leave whole and remove before serving
1 bay leaf, leave whole and remove before serving
2 t. salt
2 t. black pepper
2 t. sugar
2 quarts of water, add only as needed
1 hard cheese rind saved for soup
Add everything together except the water and bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low and simmer 4 hours or more. Stir occasionally. Taste and correct seasonings. Remove hot peppers and bay leaf.
The cheese rind is from a hard Parmesan cheese about 2" x 2" x 1/2" thick. It just slowly dissolves in the soup and adds an amazing layer of flavor. I always try to save hard cheese for such occasions!
Serve in large bowls with saltine crackers. My husband likes a bit of shredded cheese atop his hot soup, just melting and gooey.
Golly the freezer and refrigerator look good!!
PS: There are no potatoes in this soup so it will freeze just fine should I want to put some away. You can always add them upon thawing the soup.......Potatoes do not freeze well because they turn mealy.
2 comments:
Don't you just love using up the leftovers. Perfect for this soup. It sounds warm and comforting and full of veggies. Very nice.
This is a great soup, I want one. Easy and everything can go in it. How cool is that! Thanks for sharing the recipe.
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