I used to eat soup for lunch. Every day. For about 3 1/2Â years. Really.
I love my homemade soup: chicken and rice, turkey and noodle, beef vegetable, cream of potato, broccoli cheese.
But I got sick of soup and started making bento instead. And now I’m craving soup.
So I made a small pot of soup (yes, mom, that is possible). Beef vegetable. Thick and hardy. Not appropriate for tomorrow’s weather (almost 80 degrees), but it’s what I wanted.
Above you can see my soup in an insulated bowl (Goodwill, $1). Doesn’t it look good? In the oval container (Goodwill, 50¢): a square of Kraft Macaroni & Cheese Crackers ($1 a box at Walmart!), in the foil: a square of cheddar cheese. Four monster strawberries fill out the container.
Beef Vegetable Soup
1/4 – 1/2 pound ground beef (can use ground turkey or vegetarian crumbles)
3 cups water
8 ounces tomato sauce or tomato juice or V-8
2 cubes chicken, beef or vegetable bouillon
2 ribs sliced celery
1 large potato, peeled and diced
1/2 cup cooked pinto beans
1/2 yellow onion, diced
2 carrots, peeled and diced
1 cup cooked small pasta
seasoning to taste (salt, pepper, parsley, onion powder, celery salt, garlic powder, marjoram, basil, thyme, etc.)
Cook ground beef. Drain fat if needed. Add rest of ingredients, except pasta. Simmer on medium low for about 25 minutes or until all veggies are cooked to desired tenderness. Add cooked pasta, cook 5 more minutes. Season to taste.
Makes 4 servings to enjoy now or freeze for up to 2 months.
Tips: If you don’t like tomato omit it and increase the water and bouillon.
You can add lots of other veggies: chopped tomato, zucchini, yellow squash, turnip, parsnip, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, chick peas, black beans, etc.
You can easily double or triple this recipe.
April 28th, 2009 at 9:53 am
Did you really eat soup for lunch everyday? That actually sounds pretty filling, I see beef stew rather than chicken broth ;p
I would like to see your cream of potato soup!
May 20th, 2009 at 11:08 pm
Yes, that is true. Ask DH Michael, who kept saying, “How can you eat the same soup all week long?”. Which became, “How can you eat nothing but soup all year?” But, it was the all soup diet that helped me lose almost 40 pounds. I’ll find the recipe for my potato soup and bring it to work. I don’t even like cream of potato soup – but I like my cream of potato soup.
Now Michael looks at my bento lunches and says, “You’re not going to eat all of that.” I don’t, but I like having options.