Steak Soup

Well, you can call it steak soup, but it is pretty much vegetable beef soup. However, it was by far the best batch of veggie beef soup I have made. I put it all in the crockpot, which is why my veggies were probably a little mushy. I will be keeping this recipe!

Servings- 8

3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 stick butter
1/2 cup flour
4 cans (10-ounce) beef consomme
3/4 cups diced fresh carrots
3/4 cups fresh celery
3/4 cups fresh onion
1 can (8-ounce) chopped tomatoes
1 1/2 teaspoons Kitchen Bouquet
1/2 cup red wine
2 beef bouillon cubes
1 1/2 teaspoons ground black pepper
1 teaspoon garlic
1 teaspoon thyme
2 bay leaves
1 package (16-ounce) frozen mixed vegetables
2 to 3 pounds sirloin sliced into small thin pieces

1- In a large skillet brown sirloin in oil, drain and set aside.

2- Melt butter in stock pot without browning. Add flour to butter and stir to form a paste. Cook over medium heat, without browning, for 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Add consomme to flour and butter mixture and stir until smooth and slightly thickened. Bring to full boil.

3-Add fresh vegetables, tomatoes, Kitchen Bouquet, wine, bouillon cubes and spices. Allow soup to come to a boil again and then reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Add frozen vegetables and sirloin. Bring to a boil once again and simmer 20 to 30 minutes.

For the crockpot,follow direction in step 1 & 2. Then I dumped everything into the crockpot & cooked on low for 6 hours.
Serves 8.

Pulled Pork Soup

What a great way to use up leftovers from a party! Plus the soup tasted good too. I served it with the chi-chi's corn cakes. It needed it. It made the soup.

Servings- depends on how much leftovers you have. The batch I made serves 6

1 cup each Dice Onions, Carrots, Celery, Bell Pepper
3 garlic cloves
2 Tablespoons oil
1 quart chicken stock
About 1 large can of leftover baked beans
1- 12 oz beer
Leftover pulled pork (about 4 generous handful's)
Cornbread (optional)


Lightly salt and generously add ground pepper to vegetables, sautee till slightly caramelized add chicken stock. Add baked beans, one 12 oz beer. Take all of your left over pulled pork and put in soup.....The Bark is the secret seasoning...all of the good smoke flavor and rub dissolves into the stock....Bring to a boil reduce and cover and simmer for 2 hours and serve with cornbread

Gumbo Pork Chops

This recipes makes the most tender pork chops. They fall apart like shredded chicken. The recipe itself is not super spicy, even my daughter will eat the chops.

I normally buy progresso chicken gumbo, but the campbell's one is milk free.

Serves 4

4 pork chops (I prefer boneless)
1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 1/2 teaspoons dry mustard
2 tablespoons oil, for browning
2 (15 ounce) cans chicken gumbo soup
steamed rice/mashed potatoes, if desired

In a shallow dish, combine flour, salt, garlic powder and mustard; dredge chops to coat.
In a skillet, heat oil and brown chops; place chops in a crock pot and pour skillet drippings over chops.
In the same skillet, add the soup and stir to loosen brown bits from the pan; pour this over the chops.
Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Serve over or with steamed rice or mashed potatoes, if desired.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Yum....mexican! This is a recipe you should not pass up. It was good, but not to spicy. Even Isabel (2 years) ate some. I just bought the pre-fried tortilla strips. You can also top the soup with some avocado, for some creamy goodness!

Serves 8

1 pound shredded, cooked chicken (ok, so I forgot to pull the chicken again. 2 frozen breast went into the crockpot)
1 (15 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 (10 ounce) can green enchilada sauce
1 medium onion, chopped
1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chile peppers
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup water
1 (14.5 ounce) can chicken broth
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 (10 ounce) package frozen corn
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
7 corn tortillas (optional)
vegetable oil (optional)

Place chicken, tomatoes, enchilada sauce, onion, green chiles, and garlic into a slow cooker. Pour in water and chicken broth, and season with cumin, chili powder, salt, pepper. Stir in corn and cilantro. Cover, and cook on Low setting for 6 to 8 hours or on High setting for 3 to 4 hours.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
Lightly brush both sides of tortillas with oil. Cut tortillas into strips, then spread on a baking sheet.
Bake in preheated oven until crisp, about 10 to 15 minutes. To serve, sprinkle tortilla strips over soup.

Note- if chicken is frozen, pull out chicken about 1/2 hour before serving & shred it. Place chicken back into pot until ready to serve.

Bacon Chicken Pot Pie

Pot pies & bacon??? Sounds yummy to me & it was. Of course I did not follow all the directions, so make sure you do or else you will have gummy biscuits too! Doing the lactose free? Some store brand buttermilk biscuits have no dairy.

Serves 4-6

1 can (10.2 oz) Pillsbury® Grands!® Flaky Layers original refrigerated biscuits
1 can campbells turkey gravy
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 cups cubed cooked chicken
1 bag (12 oz) Green Giant® Valley Fresh Steamers™ frozen mixed vegetables
1 cup refrigerated cooked diced potatoes with onions (from 20-oz bag)
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (2 oz)
5 slices bacon, crisply cooked, crumbled


Heat oven to 350°F. Spray baking dish (I used a 8 X 10)
Separate dough into 5 biscuit. Set aside. In 3-quart saucepan, stir gravy and cornstarch with wire whisk. Stir in milk, thyme, pepper, chicken, vegetables and potatoes. Heat to boiling over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally. Immediately pour hot chicken mixture into dish; top with biscuits.
Bake 18 to 20 minutes or until biscuits are golden brown. Carefully remove from oven. Sprinkle cheese evenly over tops of biscuits. Bake about 4 minutes longer or until cheese is melted. Sprinkle with bacon.

The chicken mixture must be piping-hot when spooned into the ramekins in order to bake the biscuits properly. (Yes it is, I did not do this step & the center biscuit was gummy).

Spiced Beef and Apple Ragout

This as something a little different, so I thought I would give it a shot. It was pretty good. I would just make a few changes next time, as it was a little sweet for my taste.

Serves 6-8

1 1/2 pounds lean beef stew meat, cut into 1-inch cubes
3 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon oil
1 can (14 1/2 ounces) beef broth
1 can (6 ounces) thawed frozen apple juice concentrate, undiluted
2 firm red cooking apples, peeled, cored and cut into 1 1/2-inch chunks (I would use green)
2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
2 teaspoons Thyme Leaves
1 1/2 teaspoons Cinnamon, Ground (I would probably only use 1 teaspoon)
1/2 teaspoon Black Pepper, Coarse Ground
1/2 teaspoon Ginger, Ground
1/2 teaspoon Sea Salt

Coat meat with flour. Heat oil in large skillet on medium-high heat. Add 1/2 of the meat; cook 5 minutes or until browned. Repeat with remaining meat.
Place meat and remaining ingredients in slow cooker. Toss to coat well. Cover.
Cook 8 hours on LOW or 4 hours on HIGH. Thicken with additional flour, if desired.