Laurel Reufner
The beautiful thing about a vegetable soup is that it’s so customizable. If I’ve included anything in here that you really don’t like, then leave it out. Did I forget your favorite garden treat? Add it in! And if you want this to be vegetarian, just leave out the beef.
Garden Harvest Soup
I’m honestly not sure how many this will feed, as we always hope for leftovers. A good guess would say it’ll serve at least 8.
Prep time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 1 hour minimum
Servings: 8
Oil, for sautéing
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced, or 3 tablespoons
1 pound lean ground beef or stew meat, cubed
2 cups potatoes
1 cup carrots
8 cups vegetable stock
1½ cup green beans, fresh or frozen
1 cup celery
1 cup okra*
1 cup corn, fresh or frozen
½ cup barley
1 tablespoon summer savory, dried
1 tablespoon basil, dried
1 tablespoon thyme, dried
1 tablespoon marjoram or oregano, dried
Salt and pepper to taste
Add a small amount of oil or butter to the bottom of a large pot and let it heat. Add the onions and sauté until tender. Add the garlic and meat, if you’re using it. While that is all browning up together, chop the potatoes and carrots.
Once the meat is browned, you’ll want to pour in a little of the broth and scrape the bottom of the pan to loosen any stuck bits, which will provide some great added flavor to the soup. Once that’s done, you can pour in the rest of the stock. Add the potatoes and carrots, which will take longer to cook than the other vegetables.
Finish chopping the rest of the vegetables that need it, adding them as you go along. Add enough stock or water to cover the top of the veggies and then bring the whole lot to a boil before reducing to a simmer. I like to let my soups cook for at least an hour, adding in the seasonings at about the half-hour mark. That’s also when I’d add the barley.
*Okra is delicious in soups, but it will need a little prep work if you use fresh, otherwise it will become all slimey in the pot. If you don’t want to bother with an added step, just use some frozen. To prepare the fresh okra, wash it well and trim off the tips and slice into about ½ inch thick slices. Finally sauté lightly in a pan until the cut ends are sealed.
Mr. Incredible’s All-Around-the-Garden Salsa
A good soup is such a one-dish meal that I had a difficult time figuring out what else to offer for this sabbat meal. Other than the dessert, that is. And then my husband started making his own salsa. He kindly let me take notes while he made a batch.
Prep time: 20–30 minutes
Chill time: 1 hour, minimum
Servings: 14 (½ cup servings)
5–6 cups tomatoes, diced
2 jalapeños, seeded and minced
1 medium onion, diced
4 small ears sweet corn (about 2 cups) cooked and removed from the cob
1 tablespoon Rancher Steak Rub (see recipe below)
Combine all of the ingredients, except for the spice mix, and stir well. Sprinkle the spice mix on top and pour in about 4 cups of apple cider vinegar. Add enough water to top it off and let sit refrigerated for an hour or so for the flavors to get to know each other. Serve with either tortilla chips or maybe the cracker recipe offered in the Imbolc section.
Rancher Steak Rub
What follows is my take on the Rancher Steak Rub. I prefer my version in part because it contains much less salt. Feel free to adjust it even more to suit your tastes. This makes ¼ cup. Store leftovers in an airtight container for later use.
Prep time: 5 minutes
2 tablespoons sea salt
1 tablespoon pepper
1 tablespoon dried chopped garlic
2 teaspoons allspice, ground
2 teaspoons cinnamon, ground
1 teaspoons cloves, ground
1 teaspoon ginger, ground
Combine very well in a small dish. Shake well before using.
Handmade Tortilla Chips
You can always buy tortilla chips to go with your salsa or serve as crackers for your soup, but they are also very easy to make. If you’re extra energetic, look up online how to make the tortillas from scratch, then follow the directions below. It makes 3 to 4½ dozen, depending on how you cut them.
Prep time: 5 minutes
Bake time: about an hour
Servings: at least 10
Non-stick cooking spray
9 corn tortillas 6"–8"
Spray bottle of water
Sea salt, if desired
Lightly spray your baking pan or rub it lightly with some olive or vegetable oil. Cut the tortillas into fourths or sixths according to your size preference. Lightly spritz them with water and then sprinkle with salt.
Bake by batches at 350 degrees F for about 18 minutes, carefully turning them halfway through baking. You’ll know they’re done when they change color. Allow to cool and then store in an airtight container.
Cranberry-Pecan Apple Crisp
Finally, maybe a little something for dessert? From salsa as an appetizer to an apple crisp as the ending, this meal covers a lot of territory. This particular dish was one of the most popular of the entire testing process—with both of my daughters requesting bowls of just the topping!
Prep time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 40 minutes
Servings: 8 easily
For the topping:
6 tablespoons butter, cold
1 cup flour
6 tablespoons brown sugar
⅛ cup sugar
¼ teaspoon cinnamon, ground
¼ teaspoon cloves, ground
1 cup rolled oats
For the filling:
½ cup maple syrup
¼ cup flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon, ground
8 large baking apples
¾ cup chopped pecans
½ cup dried cranberries
To make the topping, combine all of the ingredients in mixing bowl. Use a pair of knives, a pastry blender, heavy duty fork, or your hands to cut the cold butter into the rest of the mixture until it all resembles large crumbles.
Next peel the apples and cut them into slices about ½" thick. Place them in a bowl and mix in the rest of the filling ingredients, tossing to coat the apples. Place in the bottom of a glass baking dish. Spread the topping evenly across the top of the apples.
Bake at 375 degrees F for 30 minutes, and then cover the edges of the crust and bake another 10 minutes or until a fork poked into the apple slices doesn’t meet any resistance.
This is best served warm, maybe with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream drizzled with caramel sauce. However, it’s also really good cold. If any of it survives that long.