Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Sunday Night Dinners: Vegetable Beef Soup

Even though the weather was much downright summer-like here this weekend, I still had a hankering for soup. I love soup - it is probably one of my favorite meals! Especially if it is home-made! So on Sunday I made Vegetable Beef Soup!

Like all recipes, this one started with a trip to a grocery store... and a phone call to my mom. The recipe called for Parsnips. I had no idea what they were - and the grocery store did a terrible job of clearly marking their produce! So I had to call my mom and ask her what the heck they were. And of course, she knew exactly how to describe them - "a white vegetable that looks like a carrot" - thanks, Mom. What would I do without you!

In case you are like me and don't know what parsnips are, here's a photo!


I started by chopping up the parsnips and my other vegetables. As I've said before, I'm a big fan of the 'mise en place' - it makes for a less stressful cooking process!


After all the slicing and dicing, I browned the round steak,


After setting aside the browned steak, I added the carrots, celery, parsnips, onion, and thyme to the Dutch oven and cooked them until they were slightly softened (about 5 min).


Then I added back the beef as well as the beef broth, tomatoes, salt, and pepper.


After bringing that to a boil, I let it simmer for about 10 minutes and then stirred in the Spinach.


I let the soup simmer for an additional 10 minutes and then added the cooked brown rice (made in my rice cooker which is seriously one of the best cooking gadgets I've ever received!)


And voila!


Here's my 1 1/3 cup serving - it was DELICIOUS!!


And the best part? I have meals for the rest of the week!


I highly recommend this recipe. It was delicious and I am sure it will be even better the 2nd time around!

Here's the recipe!

1 T. olive oil
3/4 lb top round steak, trimmed & cut into 1/2" pieces
4 carrots, thinly sliced
4 celery stalks, sliced
3 parsnips, diced
1 large onion, chopped
1/2 t. dried thyme
5 c. reduced-sodium beef broth
14 1/2 oz can petite diced tomatoes
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. black pepper
2 c. lightly packed baby spinach
1 1/2 c. hot cooked brown rice

18 comments:

Becky said...

That looks delicious! I'm copying down this recipe now!

Kyla Roma said...

This looks great! I love meals that give a lot of left overs, it makes the rest of the week such a no brainer. Good work!!

Little Fish said...

This recipe looks yummy!

Parsnips are one of my faves. If you ever have leftover parsnips or just want to try them a different way; peel them, slice them up, toss with a little olive oil and salt and roast in the oven for 45 mins to an hour until soft. They get so sweet and yummy that way. Mashed parsnips are also really yummy. Just peel, boil til soft and then mask up with some butter, salt and milk/cream if needed.

Anais said...

Yum, looks delicious!! I love having soup ready-made like that... Thankfully, I have a TON of leftovers from when my grandmother came down :)

aimee said...

looks good!! i had no clue what a parsnip was either until recently. i had seen them at the store before but thought they were just white carrots!!!!

Kelly said...

Wow, that soup looks so delicious. I also love how you have all the leftover containers. I love delicious homemade leftovers for easy meals!

Unknown said...

Looks so good. LOVE the addition of spinach. I will make this recipe soon. And, aren't rice cookers a great thing?

Chelsea said...

I love having meals for the whole week!! Makes me happy.

Parsnips were just on an episode of Chopped. I think they had to use them in a dessert. That's just wrong.

Amber @ A Little Pink in the Cornfields said...

Mmmm, that looks yummy! I love taking soup for lunches!

Mandy said...

That looks wonderful! I am not a big fan of beef but this sounds delicious. Do you think I could use chicken stock instead of the beef?

I have never cooked with parsnips but now I am inspired. Thanks for sharing the recipe.

Anonymous said...

I have never seen a parsnip until today, so thank you for sharing =) The recipe looks yummy and now I'm craving soup! Recipes that make leftovers are the best!

Abby said...

Mmmm that looks delicious, Lisa! I will definitely have to try that recipe! I made Vegetable Beef Stew this week in the crock pot too--but it was a very different recipe from that!

I've never actually had parsnips before. Are they similar to like a yellow squash? Pototo? I've always been curious...

The Many Thoughts of a Reader said...

Yum... my hub would love that! Minus the spinach ha..

Amber said...

This looks SO good! I am also a huge fan of soup, especially soup with chunks of beef in it. Yum, yum, yum! I will be trying this recipe for sure, the huge amount of leftovers alone sold me :)

Mama Nastase said...

Lisa, your stew looks so good! I really enjoy your pictures, it really encourages me to try out the dish! (And thank goodness for moms!! I wouldn't have known what a parsnip was, either!)

Nicole said...

Sounds yummy! I think I could actually do this, too!

Lisa-Marie said...

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM! I am so going to make this! You have some serious kitchen skill!

Marlys said...

Lisa, that soup looks delish! I will definitely make it! I also loved the recipe for the baked parsnips, too, so thanks for sharing that! And to Abby, they are a root vegetable much like a carrot, rutebaga, or potato! Try it, you'll like it!