Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Vegetable Soup

Now that summer is winding down and the evenings are chilly it's time to start putting the garden produce to good use. I made a batch of vegetable soup this afternoon and decided to post it since my dad has been asking for my mom's recipe and someone else mentioned how good my Grandma Slagenweit's vegetable soup was. This is their recipe.

 Take one chuck roast (lightly marbled) and place in a large dutch oven. The roast I used was just a little over 2 lbs. Add 4 cups of water, 3tsp of salt, and 1 tsp of ground pepper.


Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a low simmer. It will need to simmer until it pulls apart easily with a fork. This one simmered for 3 1/2 hours this morning. Remove meat from broth and pull apart with a fork into small pieces removing and discarding fat. (I then pop mine in the fridge until I need it in a few hours)
The comes the fun part: To the broth in my pan I add almost equal amounts (1 1/2 - 2 cups of each) of peas, green beans, lima beans, yellow beans, carrots, cabbage, and corn. I also chop up about 1/2 of a medium onion and add a quart of diced tomatoes. Now, all of the vegetables came out of our garden and were frozen (except the tomatoes that were canned) so if you're using produce you purchased you'll want to buy frozen instead of canned. Then add 3 more tsp of salt (only add this addition of salt if you are using no canned vegetables that have salt in them - if you're unsure, don't add any - better not to add and then be able to add later than to add too much) and then.......I know this is going to sound strange but you have to add 1/8 of a cup of sugar.

Let me explain: I'm from Pennsylvania and we put sugar in everything. Our desserts, our salads, our vegetables, our cornbread and our meat. I had no idea that some people don't put sugar in their sloppy joe or taco meat until I married a man who was raised in the south. In the south they don't put sugar in anything - not their meat, not their vegetables (you fry those) nor their cornbread. They save all that sugar and put it in their iced tea - it's like syrup. But see, in the north you spread that sugar all out and that includes a little in your iced tea. So trust me.......put the sugar in the soup.

Also - don't put potatoes in it. That's just nasty. Trust me.

Without the tomatoes:
 With the tomatoes:

Bring to a boil and then turn down to a low simmer. Simmer for about 2 1/2 - 3 hours until vegetables are very tender. Then add the meat and heat until warmed through. There is nothing better than a bowl of this with a slice of homemade bread! Enjoy!


7 comments:

Faithe said...

Oh Marianne, you have made me VERY HOMESICK for my mother (Grandma Slagenweit)....indeed she (and your Mom) did make the BEST vegetable soup. Every so often I make a batch and freeze it in small containers so I can pull it out, add a sandwich and have a quick lunch. Thanks for sharing your recipe. I don't know that I've ever seen it in print before!! :o)

Ashley said...

Looks yummy! Will have to try. I think I could eat soup every night. And sugar is always a winner. I think we'll like it.

Charity said...

Do you make a big batch of this and can it? Just imagining what you could put in my stocking this year- haha! Yummy!

MarianneBrown said...

I've never tried canning it but it freezes very well.

knightfirstlady said...

Sounds delicious! I think this will go on our menu later this week or next. Should be pretty tasty with the chilly evenings we've been having lately! Sharon Knight

Brenda said...

So glad you posted this - can't wait to try it!

Brad said...

Greetings. We will have to try this recipe.
I need you assistance. I found your blog from your husbands website. I sent him a question about his article on Bible translations to the email on the site but I got bounced back. (philipbrown@apbrown2.net) Can you pass my email to him please? (wbhuie@gmail.com). I can send my question to him when he responds. Thank you and blessings!
Brad Huie