Autumn Soup

[Doc Watson]

With a 3 day cold snap here in the northeastern US in full swing today, I went to the market last night to get the ingredients for one of my favorite winter comfort foods. It's a recipe my daughter (23) brought home from high school Cooking 101 when she was a sophomore. Quick, easy and very satisfying.

Autumn Soup

Ingredients
½ lb Ground Beef
½ cup Chopped Onions
¾ cup Chopped Celery
¾ cup Potatoes cut up into cubes (use 1 whole potato)
3 Whole Fresh Tomatoes (stems removed)
1 tsp Salt
¼ tsp Pepper
½ Bay Leaf (crumbled)
Pinch of Basil
2 cups Hot Water

Directions
1. Brown ground beef slowly in a heavy kettle
2. Add onions and cook 5 minutes more
3. Add remaining ingredients (except tomatoes)
4. Mix thoroughly, loosening crustiness from the bottom of the kettle
5. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer 20 minutes
6. Add tomatoes and, if necessary, more water
7. Simmer 10 minutes longer


Yield 2 servings

[Skitterbug]

With a 3 day cold snap here in the northeastern US in full swing today, I went to the market last night to get the ingredients for one of my favorite winter comfort foods. It's a recipe my daughter (23) brought home from high school Cooking 101 when she was a sophomore. Quick, easy and very satisfying.

?? 3 Whole Fresh Tomatoes (stems removed)

?? ½ Bay Leaf (crumbled)

I have a pound of ground beef in the fridge waiting for me to do something with it. This sounds yummy so guess what will be for lunch tomorrow.
I have two questions: 1. I'm guessing I can substitute a quart of tomato pieces with the juice - for the fresh tomatoes? 2. My mom always said I should remove Bay Leaf because it wasn't good to eat it, only use it for flavoring. I can assume it has never caused you any problems?
Thanks for your thoughts and for the recipe!

[Hey Jude]

My mom always said I should remove Bay Leaf because it wasn't good to eat it, only use it for flavoring. I can assume it has never caused you any problems?

I too have always used bay leaves in stews/roasts/soups, but always removed them prior to eating. I remember roasting some black bear when we lived in the mountains of Central Pennsylvania and leaving it in....it was sooooo awful~!~!~! Perhaps the other seasonings in this recipe counteract it? It does sound good though.

[GeoffW]

I remember roasting some black bear when we lived in the mountains of Central Pennsylvania and leaving it in....it was sooooo awful~!~!~

So was that a dish you couldn't leave or one you couldn't bear?

[Hey Jude]

one that I couldn't bear to leave

[GeoffW]

one that I couldn't bear to leave

Hehe.

If you got a boy Leif in your soup, would you discard it?

[Argus]

2. My mom always said I should remove Bay Leaf because it wasn't good to eat it, only use it for flavoring.

Your mom was right; one shouldn't rest on one's laurels...

[Hey Jude]

2. My mom always said I should remove Bay Leaf because it wasn't good to eat it, only use it for flavoring.

Your mom was right; one shouldn't rest on one's laurels...

or hardys

[Argus]

But you can leave the Olivers in, I think.

[GeoffW]

2. My mom always said I should remove Bay Leaf because it wasn't good to eat it, only use it for flavoring.

Your mom was right; one shouldn't rest on one's laurels...

It's better to rest on your laurels than to have wreaths rest on you.

[Claude]

½ Bay Leaf (crumbled)

I leave bay leafs in my dishes because I have a bay leaf tree and only use fresh leafs. I also have a pepper tree and us those leaves in cooking.

Just thought that I'd turn over a few leaves in this thread

[Doc Watson]

With a 3 day cold snap here in the northeastern US in full swing today, I went to the market last night to get the ingredients for one of my favorite winter comfort foods. It's a recipe my daughter (23) brought home from high school Cooking 101 when she was a sophomore. Quick, easy and very satisfying.

?? 3 Whole Fresh Tomatoes (stems removed)

?? ½ Bay Leaf (crumbled)

I have a pound of ground beef in the fridge waiting for me to do something with it. This sounds yummy so guess what will be for lunch tomorrow.
I have two questions: 1. I'm guessing I can substitute a quart of tomato pieces with the juice - for the fresh tomatoes? 2. My mom always said I should remove Bay Leaf because it wasn't good to eat it, only use it for flavoring. I can assume it has never caused you any problems?
Thanks for your thoughts and for the recipe!

I don't know how this thread developed from this simple recipe, but that's one of the joys of "our" Lounge. Friendship and comradery !!

To answer Skitter's questions, this time of year I would say canned are a far better choice than the cardboard tomatoes in the produce sections. With the Bay leaves, it's a personal choice. I leave them in, but I don't eat them. If you don't want to be bothered sorting them out, adding the whole leaf is a good alternative and is easily removed at the end. You might want to add a couple whole leaves to account for not breaking them up or, if you have access to a tree, fresh leaves are the best.

Sooooo... how was lunch today ???

[Hey Jude]

I don't know how this thread developed from this simple recipe, but that's one of the joys of "our" Lounge. Friendship and comradery !!

You might want to add a couple whole leaves to account for not breaking them up or, if you have access to a tree, fresh leaves are the best.

Oh noblest of apothecaries if I might be so bold as to enquire of you the exact dimensions of your Laurus Nobilis

[Skitterbug]

I don't know how this thread developed from this simple recipe, but that's one of the joys of "our" Lounge. Friendship and comradery !!
To answer Skitter's questions, this time of year I would say canned are a far better choice than the cardboard tomatoes in the produce sections. With the Bay leaves, it's a personal choice. I leave them in, but I don't eat them. If you don't want to be bothered sorting them out, adding the whole leaf is a good alternative and is easily removed at the end. You might want to add a couple whole leaves to account for not breaking them up or, if you have access to a tree, fresh leaves are the best.
Sooooo... how was lunch today ???

The thread became unwound while you weren't looking!

Back to the topic - this is a quick fix recipe and our lunch was delicious and
I used canned tomatoes <our own> and one bay leaf, kept whole - not crumbled. I think I'll add more than one the next time I prepare this recipe to get a bit more "bay leaf" flavor.

Now what sounds good for dinner?

[Doc Watson]

I don't know how this thread developed from this simple recipe, but that's one of the joys of "our" Lounge. Friendship and comradery !!

You might want to add a couple whole leaves to account for not breaking them up or, if you have access to a tree, fresh leaves are the best.

Oh noblest of apothecaries if I might be so bold as to enquire of you the exact dimensions of your Laurus Nobilis

That's a rather personal question, don't you think ??

But amongst Lounge friends, we make allowances. I usually add 2 dried leaves or 1 fresh leif... I mean leaf.

[Doc Watson]

I don't know how this thread developed from this simple recipe, but that's one of the joys of "our" Lounge. Friendship and comradery !!
To answer Skitter's questions, this time of year I would say canned are a far better choice than the cardboard tomatoes in the produce sections. With the Bay leaves, it's a personal choice. I leave them in, but I don't eat them. If you don't want to be bothered sorting them out, adding the whole leaf is a good alternative and is easily removed at the end. You might want to add a couple whole leaves to account for not breaking them up or, if you have access to a tree, fresh leaves are the best.
Sooooo... how was lunch today ???

The thread became unwound while you weren't looking!

Back to the topic - this is a quick fix recipe and our lunch was delicious and
I used canned tomatoes <our own> and one bay leaf, kept whole - not crumbled. I think I'll add more than one the next time I prepare this recipe to get a bit more "bay leaf" flavor.

Now what sounds good for dinner?

Well, at least we caught the loose end and pulled it back together.

Glad you liked the recipe and enjoyed lunch.

I'll see what I can come up with for dinner tonight.

[ChrisGreaves]

I'm guessing I can substitute a quart of tomato pieces with the juice - for the fresh tomatoes?

Skitterbug, did you notice that I haven't (yet) strayed off-topic?
About the only packaged goods I buy nowadays is canned tomatoes.
They arrive in 3-litre cans (100 fl oz), the tomatoes either whole (but very soggy!) or crushed. I sometimes puree the whole-soggy ones in the blender.
Prime use: meat sauce, baked beans.
I have to start making chili; a chili, with ground beef, seems like a meat-sauce-with-pasta dish, beans substituted for pasta.

[Skitterbug]

I'm guessing I can substitute a quart of tomato pieces with the juice - for the fresh tomatoes?

Skitterbug, did you notice that I haven't (yet) strayed off-topic
About the only packaged goods I buy nowadays is canned tomatoes.
They arrive in 3-litre cans (100 fl oz), the tomatoes either whole (but very soggy!) or crushed. I sometimes puree the whole-soggy ones in the blender.
Prime use: meat sauce, baked beans.
I have to start making chili; a chili, with ground beef, seems like a meat-sauce-with-pasta dish, beans substituted for pasta.

I've noticed.......
I'm lucky that I have an abundant supply of tomatoes during the growing season so I can preserved them for later use. There is a seedless tomato that we grew for the first time last year. It is delicious, lots of "meat" instead of watery juice, and no seeds to mess with. We also like the Big Mamma paste tomato <yep - interesting name> which is also a very solid tomato. We do grow other types but these two are my choice for canning! I haven't had to buy tomatoes in a very long time!

[ChrisGreaves]

I'm lucky that I have an abundant supply of tomatoes ...

Never mind all that!
Who took Argus's post, that's what I want to know?
I don't want to see the bottom of it all covered in porridge or Red River Cereal again, like last time .....

[Argus]

Who took Argus's post, that's what I want to know?

Since we are in the Cooking forum: It was eaten par moi.