Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Easy Veggie Soup with Easy Cheddar Biscuits

Notice a theme? Well, they're from 2 different cookbooks. The soup is from the cookbook Jessica gave me that I mentioned last week, the Gooseberry Patch one. The biscuits are from Kraft Food & Family. I had been saving the biscuit recipe until I was making something that would go good with biscuits. So last night I did both...

Easy Veggie Soup
1 lb ground beef, browned & drained
4 potatoes, chopped
1 onion, chopped
4 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 cup pearled barley, uncooked
6 cups water
6 beef bouillon cubes
28 oz can tomato puree
1 tsp dried thyme

Combine all ingredients in lg stockpot. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 45 minutes, adding more water as needed during cooking time for desired consistency (I didn't add any more), until vegetables are tender. Makes 6-8 servings (translation=a whole heck of a lot of soup).

This was pretty good. I wouldn't say fabulous. I had A LOT left over, so last night when I met Mom I gave her a bunch of it, and we will have the leftovers today for lunch. All the kids ate it, even baby Nathan had some of the potatoes. So we'll count it as a hit, although it was nothing spectacular so I haven't decided if I'm adding it to my recipe file yet. Plus I hate peeling and cutting vegetables. And I didn't chop mine. Well, the onion I did. But the potatoes and carrots I sliced. Oh, and the barley. When I first got to Hannaford I looked in the organic aisle first because I wasn't sure they would have it anywhere else. And they had a one pound package for $2.99. So I put it in my cart in case I didn't find not-organic. Well, a few aisles over they had not-organic barley, from Maine, for 69 cents for 1 pound!! Can you even believe the price difference?? So I think you can guess which one I got. Pesticides rule. Anyway hopefully my mom will post what she thought of the soup after she eats it. And hopefully she'll be honest. After all, it's not about my feelings, it's about providing a service to inquiring minds. =)

Easy Cheddar Biscuits
1 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) cold butter
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/3 cup milk

Combine dry ingredients in medium bowl. Cut in cold butter with two knives or pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add cheese. Add milk and stir until soft dough forms (I had to add just a teensy bit more milk to mine). On a lightly floured surface, knead dough 8-10 times. Shape into a 6 inch square. Cut into 9 pieces and place on greased baking sheet (I used my stoneware, so I didn't grease it. But it didn't stick). Bake @ 450 for 10-12 minutes until golden brown.

These biscuits were pretty easy, although not as easy as asking my mom to make them and eating them at her house. They didn't really taste from scratch, even though they clearly were. I'm on the fence about these, too. Well, that's where we're at for now. Talk to you guys soon!!!

1 comment:

Mum said...

I thought the soup was good, almost like the meatball chowder I make. It could have used a little more water to make it more soup-like. It was good, though. Dad ate the biscuits the next day.