Soup's On

If I were to list my favorite foods, soup would certainly rank near the top.  Ask my hubby, we eat A LOT of soup. However, it never tastes exactly the same way twice.  I am always adding different veggies, changing up the spices  or the base so it doesn't grow tiresome. Soup is a great comfort food and easy to make gluten-free, low calorie and low carb. Here is a soup I threw together the other night.  I made a list of ingredients but feel free to make it your own and add whatever veg or spice you have on-hand.


Last Minute Soup

Here is a list of what you will need.

1 lb. ground meat (I usually use beef or bison but turkey, pork or chicken work great too)*
3/4 cup matchstick carrots
1/2 white onion chopped or equiv. dried chopped onion
1 cup chopped celery or equv. dried celery flakes
1tbs minced garlic
1 quart broth (I used low-sodium, organic chicken)
1 14oz. can tomato sauce
1 can beans, rinsed and drained (I used red kidney beans)
granulated garlic to taste (I start with a tsp and go from there)
italian seasoning to taste (I use a grinder-about a tbs)
salt and pepper to taste
parsley for garnish (I used dried b/c the fresh didn't look very good at the store)
* look for meat with no antibiotics or hormones, as well as grass-fed for best nutritional value

Heat a medium saucepan to medium-high heat and brown meat. Drain fat from meat.  Add onion, carrot, celery and spices and continue cooking until veggies are just tender. If using the dried celery and onion go ahead and add them here and give them a little color.
Add broth, tomato sauce and beans.  Bring soup to a boil and reduce to simmer. This soup doesn't need much time to simmer, apx 10 mins depending on your use of dried or fresh ingredients. Add additional seasoning, salt/pepper if desired and chopped parsley before serving. If using dried parsley add it a few minutes before serving so that is has time to absorb liquid.
Serves 4.