Cooking For Fall Weather

Is there anyone besides me that isn't looking forward to Fall?   I've been trying to hang on to Summer to the bitter end.   I have discovered that I really like this hot, humid Southern heat!  So I sort of dread to see Fall coming.  Well, actually its not Fall that I am dreading, its what comes AFTER Fall! 

 

Anyway.... the one thing I do love is to cook soup in cool weather.  I love cooking soup in hot weather too, but it sure tastes better when the days are cool.  This morning felt like a vegetable soup kind of day.  I thought I would share my recipe (if you can call it that). 

 

 

 This is my own recipe, so it changes a lot but today this was what I put in it (except I forgot the home canned tomatoes and green beans until after I put all these ingredients in, so they are not in the picture).  

 

Vegetable Beef Broth

Original V8 Juice

Ground Beef

Vegetables of choice (I used potatoes, carrots, celery, corn, onion, green beans, tomatoes)

Pasta (optional)

Kosher Salt

Parsley

Italian Seasoning

 

 

I used fresh corn cut off the cob, because its what I had and because it tastes SO much better than canned or frozen!

 

 

I threw my chopped potatoes, carrots and celery in a bowl with the corn and then put it in a large stock pot with a cup of water and the beef broth.  Bring to boil and then simmer til vegetables are done. 

 

 

While the veggies were cooking I sauteed the ground beef and diced onion together.

 

Okay, time for a little bragging.  This is our own, raised on our farm, grass fed beef and it is the BEST ground beef you will ever eat.  It is so good that we grill hamburger patties and eat them like steak!   There is just enough fat to give the meat amazing flavor but not too much that it ever has to be drained off.

 

 

 This is what it looked like after I cooked it - with no draining.  I like my hamburger meat in my soup to be super small chunks so as I cook it in the skillet, I use a fork to break it up.  Add salt and set aside til vegetables are cooked.

 

 

Boil pasta til done and put in colandar to drain.  I don't ever add the cooked pasta to the soup pot as it gets over-done and I don't like that.  So, I set it to the side and we add a spoonful of pasta to our soup bowl if we want it.  I never cook much because usually we just want a small spoonful. 

 

 

Then, because it sounded really yummy, I made a pan of corn bread and had it cooking while I finished up the soup.

 

(Do you have one of these cast iron skillets?  If not, GET ONE!  They make the very best corn bread - it comes out crispy on all sides, which is how I love it!)

 

 

To finish up the soup, add the home canned green beans, tomatoes, V8 juice and cooked ground beef.  Add the desired amount of parsley and italian seasonings.  Bring to boil and let it boil briskly a few minutes.  Dish up into bowls, add a spoonful of pasta (if desired) and serve hot with fresh corn bread! 

 Hope you are having a very Happy Fall!  So far I have NO Fall decorations out and not sure I'm going to, although Eldon keeps reminding me of my scarescrow lady that I made last year that was ever so cute.  She's in the back of the horse trailer.... this I know because I opened the horse trailer recently in my quest to find the pitch fork and almost had heart failure when I saw a man (I mean lady) in there! 

 

So.... maybe the scarescrow will come out!

 

Happy Fall Y'all!