Veggie Soup

We are now starting to feel the cool season of Fall here in North Carolina. The temperatures have dropped down to the 40's in the mornings and after sundown. It has put me in the mood for soup.

I have been wanting to make some vegetable soup. We have made all sorts of soups in the past but I have never made a real "old fashioned vegetable soup". I headed to my social media friends for some help and ideas on how to get this soup started. I was in a limbo weather to make it with a broth base or more of a tomato base. 

Most of my friends suggested V-8 Juice as a starter. Some suggested beef or chicken broth. 

Needless to say, I was still somewhat undecided on what would taste best. That's when I decided to reach out to my friend Anne. I know she does a lot of cooking, and, well, I just trust her taste. 

Her base starter? Water.

OK, that sounded easy enough. The veggies add the broth and make a delicious soup as it slowly cooks in a pot for a few hours. So that's how I started. Before I knew it, I was adding this, that and whatever. I started with adding some cubed potatoes and diced onions and let those cook a little first then I started adding in the veggies. I ended up adding a can of beef broth for flavor and consistency. 

Just look at that mess!

Then I made a pan of cornbread. I mean, what good is veggie soup if you don't have cornbread right? 

No jiffy mix here. This is the real stuff made in a cast iron pan just like mom! (recipe is on the bag of cornmeal).

My soup turned out delicious and we had enough for the next day. [Did I mention soup is better the second time around?] 

Below is basically what was in my soup:

2 baking potatoes

1 onion

2- 14.5 oz. cans of petite diced tomatoes

1- bag of frozen mixed vegetables

1- bag of frozen okra

1/2 head of chopped cabbage

1- can of beef broth

1- can of water

Salt/ Pepper

pinch of garlic salt

dash of Italian Seasoning

dash of parsley 

I started the potatoes and onions first in a little water in a stock pot until they started to soften, then I added all the other ingredients and cooked in a crock-pot on low 4-5 hours.

I plan to make some more of this kind of soup again soon. It's low calorie and Lord knows I need the veggies. 

We call this an Italian spoon rest.

“Soups On!”