Not Soup Weather

Considering the date, we should have soup weather. Wrong! I even walked bare legged around the pond this morning splashing into all the puddles and streams. My Birkies were full of rain water when I came inside. A good excuse to give them a good rinse.

And as for our beagle, he is a muddy mess. Again! He keeps jumping on the front door wanting to be inside, but that won't happen until he has a good shower. Thank goodness we have a shower in the swimming pool room. And his favorite thing while he is wet is to run in the garage and slide on the painted floor . He knows the true meaning of slip 'n slide.

But back to the soup. Let's knock off two favorite soup recipes today from Just Plain Cooking from Memaw:

Beef Vegetable Soup (Memaw's)

2 pounds soup meat with round bone

1 large onion (chopped)

1 toe garlic (chopped)

3 ribs of celery (chopped)

1 can of tomatoes

2 large carrots (diced)

2 potatoes (diced)

1 can tomato sauce

1 package frozen mixed vegetables

6 cups water--more if needed

Use large soup pot. Bring water, soup meat, onions, garlic, celery, canned tomatoes, and tomato sauce to a boil. When mixture begins to boil, turn heat down so mixture simmers until meat is tender. Add remaining ingredients and cook until vegetables are done. Season to taste. Serve hot with cornbread or crackers.

You may add any vegetable to this soup. Examples: shredded cabbage, green beans, okra, corn, or whatever is available.

Chicken Okra Gumbo (Memaw's)

1 fryer ( 2 or 3 pounds)

1 1/2 pound okra

1 fresh tomato ( chopped)

1 large onion ( chopped)

3 tablespoons shortening or drippings from chicken

2 tablespoons shortening

2 tablespoons flour

Salt and pepper to taste

Cut up chicken, dredge with flour, salt and pepper. Fry until brown.

Fry okra with tomato and onion in the 2 tbsp. shortening.

Make a roux in a heavy skillet with grease from fried chicken and 2 tbsp flour. Brown roux until deep golden brown. Be careful. Do not burn.

Add fried chicken and vegetables. Stir for a few minutes. Add water. Salt and pepper to taste. Cook slowly for about 2 hours.

Serve over rice.

Serves 6.