Healthy Vegetable Soup

This is a soup I made Friday night for supper, it turned out really good. It is based on this recipe that I got off of Shannon A.'s - We're Eating What? blog.

Shannon's recipe

Jana's Version
Olive oil
1 onion, chopped
Saute until onions are golden, then add:
3 leeks, rinsed, chopped
6 cloves of garlic
Saute for another minute, then add to pot with:

1 bell pepper
3 roma tomatoes
4 large russet potatoes
2-3 carrots, I used about 1 1/2 cups
1 cup lentils
6 cups chicken broth (low sodium)
additional water to fill the pot
4 bay leaves
Lawry's season salt
ground pepper

Bring to a boil and then simmer for 30 min.
Remove bay leaves, then add:

1 c. frozen peas
3-4 handfuls of spinach
1 lb. crispy fried bacon, chopped

Simmer for another 5 minutes and serve.
Makes 7-8 quarts of soup.

All the ingredients, looks very healthy, doesn't it!

Peel onion

Slice one way

Then cross chop

rinse leeks

Lay leek flat and cut in half down the center

There will still be dirt between the leaves, even after rinsing

Bend the leaves backwards so the splay apart and you can easily rinse in between them

All the leeks cut and rinsed

cut the leaves off where they start to get dark green

cut off the root and check the first couple of layers for dirt, rinse if you find any

slice down the center

Cross chop

3 leeks makes about 5 cups of chopped leeks

Pretty bell pepper

Cut out the stem

Quarter and remove the white flesh and seeds

slice and then cross chop

3 roma tomatoes

Remove stem ends, cut in half, slice and then cross chop

Carrots, I used the baby cut carrots, all you have to do is chop

about 1 1/2 cups, you can use more if you want

4 big potatoes, peel

cut in half and then I sliced each half into 8 sticks,
cross chop and you get nice cubes.

If you cube potatoes ahead of time,
put in cold water to prevent oxidation, turning brown.

6 cups chicken broth, 4 bay leaves, Lawry's, ground pepper

Saute onions in olive oil

until golden brown,

6 peeled cloves of garlic

Add leeks and garlic to onions and saute for another minute

Add lentils, tomatoes and red bell pepper to pot

Add onions, leeks and garlic to the pot

Add potatoes and carrots to the pot

Cover, bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer for 30 minutes

Add peas, handfuls of spinach and bacon
(*bacon was unfortunately unable to make it to the photo shoot)

Mmmmm, the finished pot of soup

Served up

Enjoy with fresh bread and friends!

Beef Bourguignon

I know it has been a while since I updated this, but I had to share this one, it is so good!
I took some pictures, so I will post them later.

1 beef roast 3-4 lb., cut into 1 in. cubes (round steak)
1 - 16 oz. bottle of Burgundy cooking wine
6 T. butter (4 T. w/meat, 2 T. w/mushrooms)
1 container of sliced fresh mushrooms
6-8 green onions, chopped about 4 inches up
2 T. flour, I used more for a thicker sauce

Heat oven to 400, melt butter in casserole dish in oven. Chop onion & saute w/mushrooms in 2 T. butter. When butter in oven is nearly melted, add beef and brown the meat for 20 minutes, uncovered, stir a couple of times. Add flour and wine to mushrooms & onions, simmer slowly while meat browns. Pour wine sauce over meat, cover, bake at 225/250 for 2-3 hours. Serve over parsley & buttered egg noodles.

Saute mushrooms and onions in 2 T. butter

I added 1/4 c. flour for thick sauce

Stir flour around

Add bottle of cooking wine

The flour gets all clumpy,
but don't worry, you will have a nice thick sauce after the dish cooks for 2-3 hours


I used about 4 lbs. of trimmed chuck roast,
here it is cut into 1-2 inch pieces and browned in the 400 degree oven with 4 T. butter

Pour wine sauce over meat and put back in the oven.

Sorry, as often happens, we were so excited to eat this lovely dish for supper that I forgot to get a picture of the final dish, it was very delicious!

Porcupine Meatballs

1 c. uncooked rice
1 c. water
2 t. onion powder
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. celery salt
1 t. garlic powder
1/4 t. pepper
2 lb. ground beef
2 cans tomato soup
2 t. chili powder
1 T. Worcestershire sauce
1 c. water

Water, rice and spices

Mix

Add 2 lbs. beef

Mix up and make in to evenly sized meatballs, a scoop makes this a cinch!

One meatball

Heat up a big frying pan ready, add oil

Fry the meatballs in several batches, it is easier than all at once

Brown the meatballs, don't completely cook through.
I still haven't figured out how to get the meatballs to stay round,
they always end up flat on one side

Worcestershire Sauce, Tomato Soup and Paprika,
plus more water for the sauce.

Mix up and pour over browned meatballs.

You could finish them in the Crock-Pot if you want to make this ahead of time, cover with the sauce and I would say cook on high for a couple of hours

Otherwise, just return all of the meatballs to the big frying pan, add sauce and simmer for 20-30 minutes

I am sorry, we were hungrily eating up the meatballs for supper and I forgot to take a final picture.