Fall is Here

Good Morning!

These wonderful fall days bring to my mind apple pie, soup, and all the wonderful fall foods that come from the earth! Today I am going to be giving you some recipes, and on Friday there will be a post continuing the menu planning topic, so watch for that.

My favorite part of fall is that I can start making soups again! Mmm…potato, beef vegetable, ham and bean, split pea, or maybe a butternut squash? Nothing like sunny day that is cool enough for a sweater and a bowl of steaming soup.

So, I am going to share my favorite beef vegetable soup recipe. It is made with ground beef and can be ready is 1 hour or less. I will include a variety of ways to change it up, as this is a very versatile soup. Yum!

Beef Soup

½ onion, chopped

1 lb. hamburger

4-6 carrots, sliced (depends on size and if you like carrots)

1-2 large potatoes, cut into cubes

1 TLBS beef base (purchase at Costco)

2 cups water

1 28 oz. can tomato sauce, S&W tomatoes,

OR 1 quart jar home canned tomatoes or tomato puree

1 tsp. dried oregano

½ tsp. dried thyme

¼ tsp. celery salt (you or 4 ribs celery, chopped to the soup, my family doesn’t like celery)

Salt/ pepper to taste

Brown beef and onion, put in 3-6 quart pan, add water and tomatoes. Shake beef base with small amount of water in a jar with a tight fitting lid (2-3 TLBS water). Add remaining ingredients, except for macaroni. Cook for 30 minutes on medium high heat or until soup starts to reduce/thicken.

Variations:

Add:

½ cup or more of mashed acorn or other type of squash

1 cup cauliflower, chopped

1 small or medium size zucchini, sliced

¼ cup beet puree

If you don’t have time to cook the soup down, add ½ cup noodles, quinoa, or barley and cook till veggies and starch are done, 15-20 minutes. Add more water or tomatoes as needed and remember check if seasoning needs to me adjusted as well.

NOTE: You can use any kind of veggies your family likes in this soup. Don’t limit yourself to what I have written here. You can also use veggie purees too! Great way to get your family to eat veggies they wouldn’t normally (squash puree, zucchini or spinach puree, carrots and beets work too!)

Roasted Veggies

In the picture I roasted whole vegetables. Beets, zucchini, carrots, red potatoes, and onions. I rubbed the vegetables with olive oil, sprinkled them with some salt, and put them in the hold, covered with the octagonal Silpat and put them in the oven on 250 degrees F for about 2-3 hours.

They are wonderful to eat right out of the oven or puree and freeze for later use in recipes. This is one of the ways that I sneak veggies into my families food. Roasting seems to make the flavors of the foods easier to hide when I puree them AND it seals all the nutrients inside of them.

You can do this with any type of squash, cut in half, rub outside and inside with olive oil place cut side down on the Deep Flexipat or in the tart mold. Bake at a low temp, 250-300 degrees F till you can pierce the squash skin with a fork.

Apple Pie

Follow your favorite apple pie recipe, but bake it in the tart mold. When cooled you can take it out and put it on a plate for a beautiful presentation. You can also do pumpkin or any other yummy pie in it as well!