Saturday, October 28, 2017

Pantry Soup


During the month of October, I will be participating in the Write 31 Days hosted by Crystal Stine. My category is Food, Health & Wellness and my theme is "Into The Kitchen". 



This is October and the time of year that much of the country starts cooling down. This brings out our desire for warm, comforting dishes, possibly a throwback to when much work was done outside, and as the days grew colder, people wanted to warm up with a good, hot meal at the end of the day. Dishes that quickly come to mind are soups, stews, chili, and casseroles (or hot dishes in some parts).

Image Source: wikipedia
In this series we have been talking about simple recipes, quick-fixes for busy nights, keeping our pantry stocked and saving money. I thought about where to go next, and decided to bring you a soup recipe that you can make entirely from your pantry. 

I usually use any fresh ingredients that I have, but I know that if I am out of potatoes or my carrots went south, I can still make my soup. Here is how I would make a pantry version of my vegetable beef soup.

What you need:

32 oz. beef stock or broth
1 can Italian-style diced tomatoes, pureed
1 tomato can of water
1 can diced potatoes
1 can white beans, drained and rinsed
1 can roast beef, undrained (I use Kirkland)
1 can sliced carrots, drained
1-2 tablespoons dried minced onion
1/4 teaspoon oregano
1/4 teaspoon basil
Salt and pepper to taste

Add all ingredients to an 8-quart stock pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer at least 30 minutes and an hour or more is better. If your soup seems too thick, add more stock or water.

As usual, everything but the canned items are estimates, and this is fine because this is more of an illustration of how you can make a pot of soup with only what you have on hand in your pantry. You can customize it to suit your family's tastes by changing up the veggies, or use it as a guide for your own creation.

Substitutions:

For the Italian-style tomatoes, use any style tomatoes you prefer
For the white beans, use kidney beans, pinto beans or pasta
For the roast beef, use frozen meatballs
For the oregano and basil, use Italian seasoning
For the beef/beef broth, use chicken/chicken broth 

Notes:

When using dried onions, you are looking for the equivalent of the amount of fresh you would use.

When using dried herbs, use about 1/3 of the amount you would use fresh.

When using fresh ingredients, I will heat some olive oil in my pot and begin cooking the potatoes, onions and carrots, then add the liquids and other canned ingredients.

Discussion questions:

What is your favorite soup?
Is soup only a cold-weather food?


If you enjoyed this post, please leave a comment. I would love to hear your thoughts.

4 comments:

  1. Hi Linda - I don't often eat soup ... but a thick winter soup is so delicious ... love it! If I'm ill ... I'll have a couple of tins of soup in the cupboard ... and prefer tomato, or vegetable to which I can add more, or some cheese ... but yes I can see the advantages of having stores ready to go ... again if I'm ill and it's a little ongoing I cook a chicken in some water with onions, leeks and carrots and other things ... to make chicken soup for my soul ... lots ready to restore me to better health - it works. Cheers Hilary

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    1. Of course, nothing beats homemade anything, but to be able to make soup, or any meal, from what you already have is helpful.

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  2. I've been seeing your autumn project on Facebook. It looks like you'd be having great fun with this. And delicious fun to boot!

    Wishing you a pleasant day...
    Brenda xox

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    1. Hi Brenda, thanks for visiting. It is interesting and educational since I learned a lot from my research. I hope you have been enjoying it, too.

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Hi, thanks for visiting my humble abode. All comments are read and appreciated.