On the first day of the week I had planned to try lots of new recipes, I had to scrap the first one in order to make a slow-cooker meal so I could do some last-minute shopping with my son before he heads to Mexico for Spring Break.
Best laid plans and all that...
I did have a lot of odds and ends of vegetables in the fridge to use up, though, so it was a good time to make this soup that I flavor with wine, garlic, and Italian seasonings so I can christen "Italian Vegetable Beef Soup."
I don't think my family knows it's leftover soup, and I'm not gonna tell them. Shhhh...
These are the things I pulled out of the freezer and fridge:
-2 cups garbanzo beans (frozen last November!)
-3 cups turkey broth (hey, I just use what I have)
-3 carrots and two parsnips, chopped
-my last bag of frozen garden green beans (don't add until the last hour of cooking)
I had chopped all these and added them to the slow-cooker pot before I took the previous picture:
-2 cans of tomatoes
-one onion
-1/4 of a head of red cabbage (from December!! man, it can last a long time...)
-a slightly wizened red pepper (don't throw it out, chop and freeze or use right away for soup)
-the last center stalks of a bunch of celery (very wilty, I might add).
Then I chopped up 1-1/2 pounds of Elk steak that was in our freezer, courtesy of our friend Dan.
Free is a very good price.
But I've used any cut of beef, including leftovers and hamburger before. And I've even left the meat out, just using beef stock.
But then it's really just vegetable soup. And my family complains, "where's the meat?" Sheesh.
Now throw all the ingredients (except frozen beans) in the slow-cooker with:
- about 1/2 cup of wine
- a couple cloves of garlic
- 1-1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning
- salt and pepper
- a tsp. of beef bullion (because I was using up turkey broth...)
If the chopped ingredients are not covered with liquid, add a just enough water to cover as pictured.
Cook on low for 7 hours, add the green beans and cook for another hour. It can also be cooked on high for 3-4 hours.
Serve sprinkled with a little freshly grated Parmesan and alongside some yummy artisan bread.
Needless to say, you can change this up any way by using different beans and vegetables. I've even used pork and chicken stock, just switching to white wine and keeping the same seasonings.
There. A nourishing and tasty meal using up whatever's in the fridge at a cost of way less than five dollars!
-Jami
6 comments: