Recipe: Easy Beef Vegetable Soup

Fall has finally arrived and I’m making soup.  I love a big bowl of hearty soup with some crusty bread.  So very comfort food!   The other thing I love about – easy.    Oh, you could spend hours letting is simmer on the stove, but who really has time for that these days.  Nope!  I’m a get’ er done kinda gal and prefer something tasty and quick.  No need to worry about ‘what’s for dinner’.   I made this for dinner last night and the boys ate it all.  (I had one bowl.)  Give it a try this fall.

Starwoodgal’s Easy Beef Vegetable Soup

1 to 1 1/2 pounds beef stew meat – (I recommend getting the good stuff. Lean trim)
1 can diced tomatoes (14 1/2 oz)
1 can tomato soup
4 cubes beef bouillon
Water
1 large onion – chopped
2 cloves garlic – chopped
2 stalks celery – chopped
3 or 4 carrots – sliced
1 can green beans
1 cup frozen corn
thin spaghetti
salt and pepper to taste

Drizzle some olive oil in deep pot or dutch oven and heat.  Add sliced/diced onion, garlic, and the stew meat.  Season with S&P and brown the meat.  Add everything else except the spaghetti.  Add a couple of cans of water (use soup can to measure).  You’ll need enough water to make sure ingredients are covered, but visible.   You can always add water if you need it later.  Be careful about adding salt because your bouillon cubes are salty already.  Simmer for 30 minutes or so.  Add spaghetti.  Just enough to have a few pieces on each spoon full.  Break into 1 inch pieces.  Cook for an additional 12 to 15 minutes and enjoy with bread or saltines.

Y’all Enjoy! 

My Gardening Guru

The Garden at Casa Bogan

This lovely garden belongs to my sister and her husband. I’m always so envious of their gardening abilities and talents. I hope to have a garden next summer and I’m fortunate to enjoy the vegetables they are able to share from their garden.

Look at the size of those squash plants!  Crazy, isn’t it.

Jerry built the trellis

They are growing (or feeding the rabbits) green beans, cucumbers, black-eyed peas, onions, zucchini, jalapeno peppers, various tomatoes, yellow squash, raspberries, butternut squash, and brussels sprouts.   They gave up on growing corn because the raccoons kept raiding through it.

View from the Butternut Squash patch

Baby Butternut

And, lovely apple trees

Our harvest

I’m going to plant a garden next spring and wear funny hats and give vegetables to my neighbors.  After all, I do have the perfect gardening guru at my disposal.  Now, I just have to figure out how to avoid the heat and the bugs. 

Happy Tuesday! 

Starwoodgal

Recipe: Feta and Vegetable Rotini Salad

Something cool, light, and refreshing. A great salad! I usually make this when we have something cooked on the grill.

FETA  AND VEGETABLE ROTINI SALAD

3 cups tricolor rotini pasta, cooked, drained and cooled
1 cup ATHENOS crumbled feta cheese
1 cup halved cherry tomatoes
1 cup chopped unpeeled cucumber
½ cup sliced black olives
½ cup KRAFT Zesty Italian Dressing
¼ cup finely chopped red onion

Toss all ingredients in a large bowl. Cover, Refrigerate at least 1 hour to blend flavors.

Substitute other vegetables if desired. Use plum tomatoes instead of cherry tomatoes or use chopped red and green pepper in place of cucumber.

Y’all Enjoy!