The Fairview Kitchen

Winter soup season is quickly coming to an end. I thought I’d share one of the simple soup recipes that I got from my mother. You must understand, though, that this was never a written recipe that my mother gave me, but only my attempt to replicate the dish she set before us on a cold winter days. I usually double the recipe and like to serve it with warm bread.

Mom’s Vegetable Soup

1 lb. ground beef
1½ tsp. salt
1 medium onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, sliced
2 carrots, sliced
3 medium potatoes, chunked
4 cups water
Pepper to taste
½ tsp. basil

Place ground beef in a soup pot, sprinkle with salt, and brown. Remove grease from pot if necessary. Add remaining ingredients and simmer until they are soft.

If you prefer, you may add a small can of stewed tomatoes (1 pint) to the soup, but it will never taste like mother’s unless it is home-canned stewed tomatoes, right? Be sure the onions are completely cooked prior to adding tomatoes to the soup since tomatoes can chemically react with onions so that the onions never soften.

This is the bread that was rising in the pans that I made
to be eaten with the soup.





















This is the soup that I served with crackers because the
bread was all eaten up.