POPS’ GOOD OLD VEGETABLE SOUP 

The great thing about this vegetable soup is that you can design the soup based on your own preferences.  For example, if you don’t like butter-peas or okra then substitute green beans and shredded cabbage.  You won’t hurt anybody’s feelings if you make substitutions.  The only things that should not be changed are the meat, beef broth, and whole tomatoes.  It just won’t taste right if it is not based on this trinity.  The quantities shown below are just guesses because Pops doesn’t measure many things.  The recipe makes a ½ gallon of soup.  If you have a big crowd with an appetite, you better make two batches of cornbread, or double the recipe and cook it in a larger pan.

Soup Ingredients:

1

Teaspoon Kosher Salt

1

Teaspoon Fresh Ground Pepper

1

Tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil (regular olive oil will do just fine)

2

Pounds of 1½” cubes of Round or Sirloin Steak Beef Tips

1

Coarsely chopped onion

2

Baby Spring Vidalia Onions, sliced into 1/2” pieces, if available

2

32 oz, containers of Regular Swanson Beef Broth.  (The low salt version is not fit to feed to a cat).

1

14.5 oz. can of Hunt’s Whole Tomatoes (If you are lazy then use a can of Hunt’s Diced Tomatoes.  Use a large can if you really like tomatoes.  Heinz tomatoes will ruin the soup and your life).

1

Stalk of celery, sliced into ¼” slices (not absolutely necessary)

1

Small handful  or so of baby carrots sliced in half (also not absolutely necessary)

1

Cup or so of frozen butter-peas or butter-beans (do not use canned)

1

Cup fresh or frozen sliced okra, give or take

2

Medium baking potatoes, diced into 1” pieces

Cooking Instructions:

Brown the meat in a large Dutch oven or cast iron pot, using the olive oil heated to medium high.  Salt and pepper the meat.  When the meat has browned put the onions in the pot with the meat, reduce the heat to medium, and sauté the onions for 4 – 5 minutes, or until you get tired.  Add the remaining ingredients; simmer for an hour or so, until the potatoes are cooked through and through and the onions can be diced with a fork. The soup is close to being ready when the tomatoes sink to the bottom of the pot without being pushed.

Serve with homemade buttermilk cornbread made using Gourmet Whole buttermilk (1 ¼ cup), mixed into two cups of Martha White Self-rising Cornmeal mix mixed with ¼ cup of vegetable oil and one slightly beaten brown hen egg.  Bake in a greased 9” iron skillet for 22 minutes at 450°F.

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