Penny Pincher's Soup, Clean Out the Fridge Soup, or Possibly the BEST Veggie Soup Ever.

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.