Once-In-A-Lifetime, Delicious Vegetable Beef Soup & Pups Ancestry

Be sure to read the verdict below.

Bev loves to have vegetable soup when it’s cold so with temps in the low 40's, it was on the menu for our Friday get together.  When she went to the store, I asked Bev to get a four-pound chuck roast but somehow she ended up with a 1½ lb. London broil (we’re old you know).  Since that was not enough meat for our soup recipe, she went freezer diving and came up with a 2¼ lb. chuck roast that we had marinated some time ago and the only beef broth she found was a quart of 2012 brisket broth.  I did a taste test and it was still fine.  I used the go-to soup recipe that I had developed recently but adjusted for what we had.

Vegetable Beef Soup

Ingredients:

1.7 lb. London broil, 2.3 lb. marinated chuck roast, 1/2“ cube

5 tbsp. olive oil, divide

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

3½ cups chopped yellow onion

3½ cups peeled and chopped carrots

2 cup chopped celery

3 tbsp. minced garlic

2 qt. beef broth (1 qt. regular and 1 qt. 2012 smoked brisket)

2 qt. diced tomatoes (I used our home canned)

3 tsp. dried basil

2 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp. dried thyme

2 tbsp. Tiger seasoning

8 cups waxy potatoes, cut into ¾“ cubes

8 oz pkg. frozen green beans, thawed

3 cups frozen corn, thawed (we used the kernels from two frozen ears)

2 cup frozen peas, thawed

S&P to taste

Instructions:

1. Trim the beef as necessary and cut into bite-sized pieces.

2. Heat one Tbsp. olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat.

3. Dab beef dry with paper towels, season with salt and pepper then add half of the beef to pot and brown, turning as needed to try to brown all sides.

4. Transfer to a plate add another 1/2 Tbsp. oil to pot and repeat process with remaining half of beef.

5. Add another 1 Tbsp. oil to now empty pot then add onions, carrots, and celery and season with S&P.  Saute for about 5 minutes, add garlic and saute 1 minute longer.

6. Pour in broth, tomatoes, browned beef, basil, oregano, thyme and season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to low, cover and simmer, stirring once or twice throughout until beef is nearly tender.

7. Add potatoes and green beans then continue to simmer, covered, 30-45 minutes until everything is tender.

8. Pour in corn and peas and simmer until heated through, about 10 minutes.  Taste and adjust seasoning.

Forgot a shot in the pot so here is one from the storage container - I like hearty soup.

The Verdict:

After three bowls, Joe said this may be the best soup he has ever had and we all agreed it was totally delicious but we can’t replicate it as we have no more 10 year-old brisket broth and we have no idea what we used to marinate the chuck roast with.  I was surprised at how well the low-fat London broil worked in the soup so I plan to use sirloin or round for our next batch.

I love it when we blunder into something so good.

Our Pups

When we bought Teddy Bear he was advertised as a Maltese and Yorkie blend, which we believed, but since getting Romero, several folks, including our vet, have tried to guess what he might be but no one could say for sure and we have often wondered about them ourselves.  When we opened Christmas gifts from Cindy, she surprised us with a pic of each dog with his ancestry listed below thanks to a DNA test.

As advertised Teddy is:

46% Yorky

40% Maltese

5% Poodle

9% Mix of Havanese, Pekingese, Biewer Terrier, Chihuahua, and Mi-ki

Romeo is:

32% Shih Tzu (total surprise to me)

20% Chihuahua

13% Pug

9% Pekingese

8% Dachshund

3% each Poodle, Yorky, Beagle, Cocker Spaniel

2% each Chinese Crested, Australian Cattle Dog, and Chow Chow

So, little wonder no one could determine his breed as he truly is a Bitza (bits of this and bits of that) and several of these explain his short legs.

We sure appreciate that Cindy did this for us.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them and the blue words are links.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

01/13/23 meal date