Now is the time to be eating those immune-boosting veggies. Here’s a tomato-based easy vegetable soup that’s been in my husband’s family for years. Everyone here eats it without complaining — even my corn-hating, onion-hating, tomato-hating nine-year-old. (I don’t add corn, though. She just can’t handle corn.)
This hearty vegetable soup recipe is super versatile. Change it up as you see fit! Add more veggies, use chicken or veggie broth instead of water, use canned tomatoes or make your own. I’ve made this over the years with fresh veggies and frozen. (Big thanks to Craig’s Mom, the girls Mimi. This recipe originated with her.) We love it. Easy-peasy.
Pun intended.
We recently got a big ‘ole box of tomatoes in our produce box and so I made the diced tomatoes myself. Super easy and details in the recipe below.
Hamburger Vegetable Soup
A favorite from when Craig was a kid, this recipe is versatile and easy -- add your faves and enjoy. Use fresh ingredients if you have them, if not, use what you have on hand.
Ingredients
- 1 lb hamburger
- 1 cup chopped carrots
- 1 cup chopped celery
- 1 cup chopped green beans
- 1-2 large potatoes, chopped
- 1 cup onion
- 1 cup peas (frozen are fine)
- 1 large can of diced tomatoes about 24 oz (Or, use fresh - read more below)
- 3 cups water
- 2 tsp salt
- 1-3 bay leaves (I usually use 2 or 3 -- but I like peppery)
- 1/4 tsp crushed basil
Instructions
- Cook hamburger and drain. (I rinse with water.)
- Throw everything (veggies and all ingredients above) into large pot and simmer until done. Usually a couple of hours. (I think this soup tastes better with time.)
Notes
If you want to use fresh tomatoes instead of canned, simply boil a bunch of them until their skins start to come off. Remove tomatoes and let them swim in an ice-bath for about 2-3 minutes so that they stop cooking.
Peel the tomatoes and dice them. Be sure to keep all of the juice that's there and add it to the pan you'll use for simmering. (I use my cast-iron skillet). Simmer the tomatoes for about 10 minutes with a bit of salt, pepper and basil. Then add it to the soup in lieu of the canned tomatoes. Most recently I used about 15 medium-sized tomatoes to get approximately 24 oz of diced tomatoes.)
Other note: You could always add sweet potatoes or corn, the opportunities are endless. 🙂
If you make it, tag me. I want to see it. I’m @twopretzels on Instagram and Facebook.
xo,
![When I was a kid, my Mom would sometimes go to the grocery store at night while my baby sister and I were "supposed" to be sleeping. Baby sister slept, I stood by the window and watched for her headlights to turn back into the driveway, my stomach a gnarled mess while I waited.
The entire time she was gone I would create ill-fated stories in my mind that would ultimately leave her injured, kidnapped, or left for dead... I think these stories got worse after my Dad died. "What if I lose my one parent?"
I would stand there and worry.
And she always came back.
In one piece.
Over time, after therapy when I was younger, I realized that worrying doesn't shape anything... worrying doesn't CHANGE the outcome... but, it's real.
Telling someone not to worry is about as effective as telling someone not to cry when they're in the midst of full-sobbing or it's like asking someone WHERE they lost the thing that they lost.
"I can't find my keys."
"Where did you lose them."
[silence]
"Um, if I knew where I lost them, then..."
::
This time that we're living through right now is BIG and heavy and for the love of ALL THINGS HOLY it keeps on going.
I remember watching The Sound of Music when I was a kid and wondering when in the WORLD it would end. We're STUCK in the Sound of Music.
Schools opened, then closed.
Masks on, then off.
Life started, and stopped.
We've missed get-togethers and holidays.
Weddings and births.
We are as disconnected as ever.
Our worrying and concern and fear and anxiety is there... and it's real.
I see you.
I know this time is hard.
I'm not going to tell you to stop feeling the feelings, I just want you to know that I'm feeling them, too. (And therapy is helping.)
Get yourself a therapist.
Talk about all of this.
As I told one of my girls this week, “It’s ok not to be strong all the time.”
With love,
Ky](https://kyleebroughton.com/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed/img/placeholder.png)
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