The Best Ever Vegetable Beef Soup (or Turkey)

Okay, I know you hear me say all the time that something is the best I’ve ever tasted, but seriously! For reals This IS the best (okay, one of) soups I’ve ever tasted! It is full of so much yumminess. The combination of beef broth and tomato paste creates the best soup ever! This is my new favorite flavor combination. I’m going to seek out this flavor combination. Thank you to one of my dear friends, Ree Drummond (aka the Pioneer Woman) for showing me this recipe. I was browsing her site for another recipe and found this one. The picture caught my eye, and now I know why.....it’s the best soup EVER! I made some delicious cheesy biscuits to go along with it and that was the perfect combination. I recommend you made this soon. Let’s get down to it.

 

Ingredients:

• 2-1/2 pounds Ground Chuck or Turkey (I used turkey)
• 1 whole Large Onion, Diced
• 2 stalks Celery, Diced
• 3 cloves Garlic, Minced
• 1 large can (24 Ounce) Can Whole Tomatoes
• 4 cups Beef Stock Or Beef Broth, Plus More As Needed
• 1 whole Red or Yellow Bell Pepper, Seeded And Diced small
• 4 whole Carrots, Peeled And diced
• 5 whole Red Potatoes, Cut Into Chunks
• 3 Tablespoons Tomato Paste
• 1/2 teaspoon Kosher Salt (more To Taste)
• 1/2 teaspoon Black Pepper, (more To Taste)
• 2 teaspoons Dried Parsley Flakes
• 1 teaspoon Ground Oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper (more To Taste)

Directions:

First let's get all the veggies diced. Be sure they are all about the same size (except potatoes).

In a large pot over medium-high heat, brown the meat with the onion, celery, pepper, and garlic. Remove the pot from the heat and drain off as much fat as you can.

Return the pot to the heat and add the rest of the ingredients. When adding whole tomatoes, squish in your hand one at a time to to break up. This makes the pieces perfect for the soup. You don’t want whole tomatoes in your bowl.

Stir to combine, then bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, then cover the pot and simmer the soup for 20-30 more minutes, until potatoes are tender but not overly mushy. I probably cooked mine about 45 minutes to an hour. The carrots seemed to be stubborn and wouldn’t soften. The longer you cook, the better.

Soup should be somewhat thick, but if you'd like it to be more "soupy," add 1 to 2 cups more broth OR hot water and heat through. Taste and adjust seasonings, adding more salt if needed.

Serve this soup up with some delicious bread and you’ll want to thank me later! You have to admit, that is some good looking soup! Enjoy!

Sour Cream Apple Crumb Cake

Yes, it's another apple recipe, but way better than anything I've told you about before.  Forget all of the other apple cobblers, pies, cakes you’ve seen online or baked. THIS is the one you want to make! OMG, this is the best apple dessert I’ve ever tasted. Seriously! It’s so easy, but sooooooo delicious! I mean how bad could it be when the crust is made out of butter and cake mix?? I think that’s a nice start to any recipe. The cake mix and butter blend beautifully to make the best crust ever. Make your grocery list now and add this to your Thanksgiving desserts.....or just make it on a random Saturday afternoon like I did.

 

Someone that I worked with at Delta in the late 90’s brought this dessert to work once and I begged him to ask his wife for the recipe. I have no idea where it has been, but I found it during our move back to Atlanta. I haven’t made this in about 20 years. I think God wanted me to find this recipe so I could make it today and be on a dessert high! David and I were both moaning with delight as we ate this for an afternoon treat. I’m not kidding you, it is so delicious! You need to make this now for a trial run and then again for Thanksgiving. Okay, let’s get down to the details:

 

Ingredients:

 

1 egg

1 package yellow cake mix

1 stick butter

1/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

4 apples, peeled and thinly sliced

1 cup sour cream

 

Directions:

 

Peel and slice apples

 

Combine dry cake mix and butter, mix until crumbly. I like to grate the cold butter and then combine with dry ingredients with a pasty cutter. It gets evenly distributed that way.

 

Reserve 2/3 cup of cake mixture for topping. To the 2/3 cup of topping, add brown sugar and cinnamon and combine.

 

Press remaining cake mixture on the bottom of an ungreased 13x9” pan. This will be the most delicious crust you've ever tasted!

 

Spread apples over crust

 

Blend sour cream and egg and spread over apples.

 

Sprinkle reserved topping mixture over apples evenly.

 

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes

 

Serve it up and enjoy after it’s cooled for a few minutes. Enjoy with some ice cream or whipped cream as well. I’ll take mine straight out of the oven please. You can thank me for this one later!

 

One Bowl Apple Cake

The picture doesn't do it justice. I'm a bad photographer!

It’s that time of year and I love it!  Welcome Fall! It’s time to go apple picking, eating apple cider donuts along the way and possibly stumbling upon the best apple fritter you’ve ever tasted. Luckily we actually experienced all of those things a couple of weeks ago and brought home a lot of a few too many apples. I love it though because then I get to make lots of yummy apple treats. I saw this recipe somewhere on Facebook and it reminded me of the Tastefully Simple recipe for Nana’s Apple Cake. That cake is da bomb! I love a quick and easy cake recipe. I especially love it when my husband peels the apples for me. That really makes it worth while! Don’t get jealous, it doesn’t happen all the time but I sure do love it when it does. This is a one bowl cake, the title might have given that away though.

 

Let’s get started on this super simple and moist apple cake! Did I mention you just dump everything in one bowl???

Ingredients:

2 eggs
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 heaping teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 cup oil
6 medium Gala or Fuji or Honey Crisp apples (I used a mixture of several apples I had on hand from our picking trip)
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda


Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°. In a large bowl, mix the eggs, sugar, cinnamon and oil. Peel and slice the apples thinly and add to mixture in bowl (coating as you go to keep apples from turning brown.)
 

Mix together the baking soda and flour and add to the ingredients in the bowl. Mix well until all of the flour is absorbed by the wet ingredients. 

Pour mixture into a greased one 9x13. I used my trusty large, round Pampered Chef stone dish.


Bake for approximately 55 minutes.