Pat's Winter Vegetable Soup
- Ready In:
- 2hrs 20mins
- Ingredients:
- 21
- Yields:
-
2 1/2 gallons
- Serves:
- 20
ingredients
- 1 lb stew meat, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 1⁄3 head cauliflower, chopped
- 1 head broccoli, chopped, peel stem and chop
- 1⁄2 head cabbage, chopped
- 8 large carrots, sliced
- 12 ounces canned corn, drained
- 90 ounces chicken broth (6 - 15 oz. cans)
- 15 ounces stewed tomatoes, canned, tops removed
- 15 ounces canned sliced potatoes, drained, chopped
- 15 ounces canned green beans, drained (I use "shelly beans")
- 2 cups snow peas, tips removed (or frozen peas)
- 1 lb Italian sausage (optional)
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
- 1⁄2 teaspoon table salt
- 2 teaspoons seasoning salt
- 2 teaspoons Italian spices (see directions)
- 1 tablespoon tomato- chicken bouillon (I use Dona Maria brand ( Mexican isle at grocery)
- stale bread, torn up (optional)
- 30 ounces water
directions
- In a large cooking pot, sauté the beef and Italian sausage (if using) in the olive oil until browned. Add the table salt at this time. Pour off any excess fluid. Add the chopped onions and continue to sauté over medium heat until onions are tender.
- Deglaze the pot with a couple ounces of the chicken broth, add the remaining chicken stock and water, then add all the fresh vegetables and bring to a boil over medium heat.
- Add all seasonings and stir.
- Add all remaining canned ingredients except potatoes, stir, and adjust for any additional needed seasonings. Cook, covered, at a very slow boil for one hour. After the hour, add the potatoes, and then the STALE BREAD (5-6 slices if using) ONLY if you want your soup REALLY thick. Continue to cook at a slow boil for 30 minutes and serve.
- NOTE 1: If you have no tomato-based bouillon, just use a couple of chicken bouillon cubes and 2 ounces of tomato paste.
- NOTE 2: I use DEE 415's "Italian Spice Blend" in MANY of my dishes -- here's how to make a batch: 2 tablespoons dried basil, 2 tablespoons dried marjoram, 1 tablespoon garlic powder, 1 tablespoon dried oregano, 1 tablespoon dried thyme, 1 tablespoon dried rosemary, 1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes.
Questions & Replies
Got a question?
Share it with the community!
Reviews
Have any thoughts about this recipe?
Share it with the community!
RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
<p>I am a retired State Park Resort Manager/Ranger. <br /><br />Anyway, as to my years in the State Park System (retired now), I was responsible for 4 restaurants/dining rooms on my park and my boss at Central Headquarters said I should spend less time in my kitchens and more time tending to my park budget. I spent 25 years in those kitchens and worked with some really great chefs over those years, (and some really awful ones too!) <br /><br />I spent THOUSANDS of hours on every inch of that park and adjacent state forest (60,000 acres) and sometimes I miss it. But mostly I miss being in that big beautiful resort lodge kitchen. I miss my little marina restaurant down on the Ohio River too. I served the best Reuben Sandwich (my own recipe -- posted on 'Zaar as The Shawnee Marina Reuben Sandwich) in both the State of Ohio and the Commonwealth of Kentucky down there and sold it for $2.95. Best deal on the river! <br /><br />They (friends and neighbors) call my kitchen The Ospidillo Cafe. Don't ask me why because it takes about a case of beer, time-wise, to explain the name. Anyway, it's a small galley kitchen with a Mexican motif (until my wife catches me gone for a week or so), and it's a very BUSY kitchen as well. We cook at all hours of the day and night. You are as likely to see one of my neighbors munching down over here as you are my wife or daughter. I do a lot of recipe experimentation and development. It has become a really fun post-retirement hobby -- and, yes, I wash my own dishes. <br /><br />Also, I'm the Cincinnati Chili Emperor around here, or so they say. (Check out my Ospidillo Cafe Cincinnati Chili recipe). SKYLINE CHILI is one of my four favorite chilis, and the others include: Gold Star Chili, Empress Chili and, my VERY favorite, Dixie. All in and around Cincinnati. Great stuff for cheap and I make it at home too. <br /><br />I also collect menus and keep them in my kitchen -- I have about a hundred or so. People go through them and when they see something that they want, I make it the next day. That presents some real challenges! <br /><br />http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/parks/parks/shawnee.htm</p>