Hamburger Harvest Soup

It’s the end of garden season as I write so I am still in the summer mood to look for a variety of ways to use up those fresh vegetables. And although the days are sunny, there is a chill in the air that calls for soup on the menu - welcome back my friend, I have missed your warming touch this summer 😁.

This recipe can be altered to use any vegetables you have on hand, well pretty much anyway! The addition of a couple extra spices gives this soup a flavor profile you will enjoy, along with that warm hug soup provides this time of year.

INGREDIENTS -

1 pound organic ground beef
2 Tbsp avocado oil
1 1/2 cup diced sweet onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 medium white potatoes, diced
4 cups beef broth
2-3 tomatoes diced, or 28 oz can diced tomatoes
1 cup carrot, diced
1 cup green beans, cut
3/4 cup sweet peppers, diced
1 cup frozen corn, or fresh if you have it!
(if you don’t have fresh vegetables, substitute with frozen mixed vegetables)
1 tsp ground turmeric
2 tsp ground mustard
2 Tbsp Italian seasoning
1 tsp each salt and pepper

First a word about spices - a couple of kitchen tricks I’ve learned lately is to add your spices early and saute them in the oil when you first start the base layer of a dish like this. It does pop the flavors! The second is something I read that said “salt, and salt often”, hmmm. My interpretation of that remark is don’t add your teaspoon of salt all at once at the end, but sprinkle some salt early on and then continuously sprinkle it throughout cooking. It’s like layering the flavor through the soup. I’ve been using this method of salting since reading this advice, and it has turned out to be a good technique. I know some shy away from too much salt for health reasons, but I tend to be pretty generous with my good friend salt, I figure since I’ve eliminated most salty processed foods from my diet, I can afford using the salt as a seasoning rather than a preservative. Enough said.

Bring the avocado oil to medium in a heavy dutch oven on the stovetop. Add the diced onion and minced garlic and cook for about 5 min, stirring frequently. Add the turmeric, Italian seasoning, and ground mustard and continue stirring for another few minutes.

Add the ground beef, potatoes, carrot, green beans, and sweet peppers. Sprinkle some salt 😊. Continue cooking and stirring until the ground beef is cooked. Then add the broth and tomatoes.

I don’t make a habit of carefully measuring everything I put in a soup dish like this, whatever vegetables are on hand go in and sometimes the pot is a little fuller than I expected. If you tend to cook like this, have some extra broth in reserve in case you need more to cover your vegetables, it happens to me a lot!

Simmer the soup for about 30 minutes and then add the frozen corn, or any other frozen vegetables you want to add. Continue simmering for 15 minutes and you are ready to eat!

If you have a busy day this is a dish that can be prepped earlier in the afternoon and then placed in the oven on low to continue simmering. Oh how I love a dutch oven and its versatility!

Enjoy!