If I’m short on time I have a kind of quick soup recipe. Put a couple pounds of burger in the bottom of a big soup pot, don’t spring for the super lean stuff we need the fat. When it’s browned there should be a half inch or so of grease in the bottom of the pot. Pile the meat up on the sides of the pot leaving a open pond of grease in the center.
Now add your potatoes to the grease and basically deep fry them. Then carrots and celery etc, until you have all the vegetables you want in there and they’re all cooked. Don’t forget the cabbage, that’s my favorite vegetable in soup. Once all the vegetables are cooked I drain off all the grease.
After all the vegetables are cooked I add a couple big cans of stewed tomatoes. I like the diced ones but my mom uses the whole ones. Sometimes I like one can of diced and one can of crushed. Probably have to add a can or two of water as well depending on how thick you like it.
Then crank that baby up to high to get a boil going and salt the heck out of it. I can’t do soup that doesn’t have enough salt and it doesn’t work the same to salt it in your bowl. When it gets to boiling I stir in about 1 teaspoon of liquid smoke, think it may have been an accident the first time I put it in soup but it’s good.
Once it boils its ready to go since your vegetables are already cooked before you added liquid. It’s better the next day like any soup or stew but it’s quick and pretty good the first time around.
