Marvelous veggie melange makes soup a great fall kick-off

Rain fell overnight. Highs today are to be only 85 (a miracle for our scorched neck-of-the-woods). Time to really celebrate fall. For many years my Easy Vegetable Soup has been a fall kick-off tradition at our house. Assembling it yesterday and dining on it last night got my fall groove on for sure.

This vegetable soup calls for a pound of ground beef (I use ground turkey) for its base. This makes it extra hearty. The recipe calls for adding a package of frozen vegetables at the end, but I keep a freezer container into which I dump leftover veggies from whatever I’ve been preparing. Instead of buying a package of frozen veggies I simply use these fresh ones from the deepfreeze. I had a little leftover squash from my earlier blog recipe for Sautéed Squash and Tomatoes, so I added it as well. Makes for a colorful, healthy combination.

I acquired this recipe when I was an officemate of the legendary foods editor Ann Criswell at the Houston Chronicle. She was forever recommending recipes she thought I’d like; my files are stuffed with her “bests”. I featured this recipe in my cookbook, Way Back in the Country Garden, as a dish that bespeaks of a fall day. That’s what we’ve got today; we plan to enjoy every minute of it and every bite of this glorious soup.

Easy Vegetable Soup

1 pound ground beef or ground turkey

1 cup chopped onion

1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

1 cup sliced carrots

1 cup sliced celery

1/4 cup uncooked regular rice

2 (16-ounce) cans stewed tomatoes (I used 2 cans of no-salt-added peeled tomatoes)

3 1/2 cups water

5 beef bouillon cubes

1 tablespoon parsley flakes

1 teaspoon salt (or salt substitute)

1/4 teaspoon basil

1/8 teaspoon pepper

1 cup frozen mixed vegetables, unthawed (or leftover fresh veggies that have been frozen)

1 (10 3/4-ounce) can low-sodium tomato soup

In large kettle brown ground beef or ground turkey; drain fat. Add all ingredients except frozen vegetables and tomato soup. Cook covered for 40 minutes. Add frozen vegetables and tomato soup. Cook additional 10 minutes. Serves 10-12.