ART_GiRL

I am the soup queen...

As you know sometimes this is a cooking blog. My mom always said I would be a good cook because I love to eat. I watched her make soup all of the time and I suppose that is how I learned. My wedding soup still runs a close second to hers. We both make pretty damn good beef stew as well. Last week while at Heinen's I tried their vegetable beef soup. I must say it rocked! Gotta love Heinen's. I decided to merge the two recipes and make my own. I put everything in the crock pot because frankly anytime you cook beef the crock pot tenderizes it so perfectly. Here is the recipe:

1 box of beef broth. I used Trader Joe's Organic.
1 package of beef for stew.
2 carrots chopped.
1 leek chopped lengthwise.
1 zucchini chopped.
1/2 package of mushrooms chopped.
1 potato sliced and diced.
3 celery stalks sliced.
Finely sliced kale. I figured I would try it as I had some lying around.
A bit of tomatoes. You can use paste or sauce too.
Bacon! Because bacon makes everything better.
Red wine.
Thyme.
Sea salt.
Pepper.
Garlic.

First I sauteed the bacon, leeks, salt. Then I put that on top of the beef in the crock pot. I threw everything else in and let it do its magic for the next 4 hours. Then I removed the meat and shredded it with a fork. I then proceeded to puree about half of the stew. I threw everything back together and mixed it up. Perfection.