Saturday, December 10, 2011

Everything But the "kitchen sink" Soup

Last week, when I mentioned I just didn't feel up to photographing my food...well, actually, in reality...just didn't feel like photographing my step-by-step directions, while making this amazing hearty, and so good for you, all fresh vegetable, and organic beef meatball soup! See, there it is... on the bottom, a little meatball, and on the right, next to the parsley, but it's sort of camouflaged by all the yummy grated Parmesan cheese! Even the Great Northern beans were from a bag of dry beans, and not canned!
The only thing that was canned, was the 28 ounce can of organic diced tomatoes, from Whole Foods. As a matter of fact, every piece of fresh vegetable was from whole Foods. 

I started out sauteing my chopped onions, chopped garlic, sliced celery, sliced carrots, in Canola oil, about 3 Tbsp. added some chopped fresh parsley, salt, and pepper, a couple bay leaves, ... added the canned diced tomatoes, and a 32 ounce container of organic beef broth, a dash of Worcestershire sauce, and bring it to a boil. Depending on how much vegetables you are using, if you use a lot, then you have to add more broth!
Now, where were we?...let's continue!

After the soup comes to a boil, turned the heat down to medium, and added, 1 large diced golden sweet potato, 2 peeled and diced golden beets, 1/2 lb. fresh, cut green beans. I made about 1 dozen small meatballs the day before, which was precooked, added that, and I cooked up a pot of dry Great Northern beans as well. Added that, as well. Pasta which was the tiny shell pasta was cooked up separately to add to the soup.

You don't need any thickening agents, such as flour, or cornstarch, the soup thickens on its own, just from the well cooked dry beans, and especially when you add the pasta to it, will thicken.

At the end, sprinkle some Parmesan cheese right into the soup, and ladle a nice portion out, drizzling extra virgin olive oil on it, for color, texture and flavor, and some more extra cheese.

I promise you, it will chase away any holiday "blues"...makes you feel full and satisfied, all you need is some crunchy bread to go with it, a glass or two of full bodied red wine....and have a nice dessert ...always room for dessert, just with a bowl of soup. If you would like to make this vegetarian, or vegan, just omit the cheese, and the meatballs, and use vegetable broth, instead of beef broth. You can add your choice of vegetables fresh or frozen, and you can actually use any kind of canned beans; they are just as good, and add that at the end of cooking time!

So this is my offering to you, for a chilly weekend, so stay warm, or come down to sunny Florida and enjoy our mild weather here!
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38 comments:

Shabs said...

Wowowowo , what a hearty looking soup Elisabeth, it looks wonderful ,wish I had a bowl of it like right now .

Seafalcon said...

Ez egy remek leves, amúgy is nagyon leveses vagyok, viszem a receptet!
Gratulálok hozzá, csudásak a fényképek!

Angie's Recipes said...

A really warming and delicious soup..perfect with some garlic bread for the dinner.

Sandra said...

This is wonderful looking soup..I love your recipe and how comforting it is!!! You did awesome job!!!

laurie said...

what a work of art! The best kind of art, edible!!

Katerina said...

What's a better season if not winter for a hearty, warm bowl of soup. This is loaded with vitamins.

Petra said...

Guszta, tartalmas leves. A sok finom zöldség istenien hangzik. :)

My Home Diary in Turkey said...

I like you named this soup dear.. :) I'm looking for this kind of hearty soup like this lately.. and well done for the photographing it :)
xoxo

Gizi said...

Nagyon finom és olyan guszta ez a leves. Csodaszépek a képek, és a tányérod nagyon tetszik.:)

Gina said...

Yummy, I love the little meatballs in it. I could eat this everyday actually. Hope you and the family are doing well, been stuck in the kitchen non-stop baking cookies. Bet you are doing lots of the the same.
-Gina-

Patty said...

That looks toasty good...you are a soup magician!!!

I will be making this on Monday!!!

Thank you lovely Elisabeth!!!

Kitchen Gypsies said...

It looks delicious Elisabeth. Hope you are doing well :)

Jay said...

wat an awesome recipe..excellent flavors..:P
Tasty Appetite

ping said...

Still blue? Maybe you should change your blog color ... LOL, kidding. Don't know what it is about hearty, everything soups that gets me. I love soups like these! With a good crusty bread .... mmmmm! Wish I could just dive into the screen ...

Pegasuslegend said...

I would love to have a bowl of this soup it looks absolutely wonderful!

Chic & Gorgeous Treats said...

HI Elisabeth! How have you been? It's okay not to show step by step once a while. I think what's important is the end product. And I could really use a bowl of your flavourful soup. I loved all the ingredients use in your soup. So hearty and warmth to the tummy. Delish!! Happy Christmas my dear friend. Hugssss, Jo

Loveforfood said...

Awwwww I love it. Absolutely amazing!!

Ꮮуռ (ᶬˠ ᶩᶤᵗᵗᶥᵋ ᵐᵋˢˢᵞ ᴻ ᶜʱᵋᵋᵏᵞ) said...

This is so delicious, even my elder gal agreed when she walked past me (and my laptop)! ;)
I always use the same tiny shell pasta for my gals and they love it! ;D

Lizzy said...

Lizzie, it's 17º here this morning...and a big pot of your soup would be fabulous!!! I love all the components...especially the yummy meatballs! Hope you're having a wonderful weekend! xo

Amelia's De-ssert said...

Hi Elisabeth, what a cute name for the soup. But it looks delicious and appetizing. Have a nice day.

mangiabella said...

ahhhh, at last I am able to catch up on your most recent posts....I had TWO sick babies this last week and it really set me back!!! the lettuce cups were beautiful, and the biscotti is calling to me, I ADORE biscotti. I still have your chocolate chip biscotti bookmarked to try and make since I have never made biscotti....but I still haven't gotten to it yet....soon I hope. Feeling so tired still, but rejoicing every time I hold our little baby...he's just so scrumptious...chubby cheeks galore! your soup would hit the spot, we're expecting snow tomorrow and tuesday, so comforting! Thinking of you today, sending warm embraces your way xoxo

Christine's Pantry said...

This soup looks great. I'd like a large bowl of your soup.

Veronica's Kitchen said...

Even though it's hot summer in Australia but I'd love to have a bowl of your soup to wake up my soul.

Becky said...

I love soup, and especially this one, with everything but the kitchen sink. All the fresh vegetables, and meatballs, make this soup a real winner. It's in the 30's here now, and temp is falling.

mia xara said...

Ηi Elisabeth,that's a very wholesome soup!"Just what the doctor ordered" for a cold winter day here in Montreal!!I'd love to have a bowlful now!!Have a great week,XO

scrambledhenfruit said...

It's so cold here, I'd love a bowl of this! It would warm me from the inside out. :)

Junia said...

i love hearty soups! yum! i had that problemo this morning. didn't feel like photographing my food either. hahaha. :) have a wonderful week elizabeth!

Couscous & Consciousness said...

Wow, what a wonderfully thick, flavourful and heart-warming soup - beautiful photos too.
Sue :-)

Mary said...

What a deliciously wholesome soup. It is perfect for our damp and blustery weather. Save me a bowl! I hope you have a great day. Blessings...Mary

Priya said...

Wat a super delicious comforting soup,prefect for this chilled weather.

Pacheco Patty said...

This looks like my kind of hearty comfort food soup. I'm very partial to all your fresh veggies, in fact I think I could live on this soup! Happy Monday Elisabeth, I hope you have a great week;-)

Cajunlicious said...

Yum, this soup looks wonderful. I love soups like this that I can put in the crockpot and let cook away!

Lyndsey said...

I must say the photos are stunning! I think I will come down to join you if you make me a bowl of this! We did get a chill in the air one night last week :) I do like all those wonderful ingreditents that you carfully place in this eclectic soup!

wanna said...

Hello, Elisabeth, jó kis levest kreáltál! Tartalmas egytálétel, nekem ezután már desszert sem kell:)
Imádom a zöldségleveseket, nekem sem kell recept hozzá, rakom bele ami éppen kéznél van ld. Minestrone.

Beth said...

What a gorgeous soup!

Kathy said...

OMG Elizabeth, This soup looks so fantastic and I love the addition of all those veggies. What a great meal for a cold night in the north east!

Magic of Spice said...

Love the name and love the soup! Gorgeous recipe and love all those chunky veggies :)

Monet said...

I just finished off a bowl of soup. Too good, huh? Thank you for sharing your stories...and this delicious recipe! I'm in the mood for something like this right now...packed with fresh and seasonal veggies. I hope you have a blessed day!