The Soup Pot

It’s supposed to go down to the low 20s next week in North Texas and stay cold for the rest of January. The weather people haven’t mentioned snow, sleet and ice yet, but we seem all set for “stock show weather.” My mind naturally turns to soup.
This post will be submitted to the Charity Souper Bowl on the blog Branny Boils Over. For every recipe Branny receives, she’ll donate one dollar to the ASPCA, and she doesn’t want to be embarrassed by donating $13. So if you have a soup recipe, send it to her. This post is also dedicated to Scooby, my sweet but silly and aging Australian shepherd who is pacing the study floor now because he wants to go check out the kitchen floor for crumbs dropped.
For years, when my children were young and hungry all the time, I kept a soup pot. Everything went into it—a bit of a casserole, vegetables from corn and potatoes to carrots and green beans and peas, the tag end of gravy, a smidgen of leftover sauce, or the water left behind from boiling or steaming vegetables. Once a week, I fixed what I called “soup of the week.” I took a look at the soup pot and decided what it needed to make a soup for a family of five. Usually the concoction was brown—but, then, I’ve heard Texas is the land of brown food--chili, chicken-fried steak, fried potatoes. Sometimes I added an undrained can of tomatoes or a cup of broth or whatever was needed for texture and taste. You can add herbs, and salt and pepper are often a must. The kids liked it and never complained about the brown color.
You do have to be a bit careful about what you mix—if you put much chili, King Ranch chicken or something else with Mexican seasoning in it, you probably don’t want to add that leftover bit of tuna casserole (does anybody make tuna casserole, that relic of the ’50s?) Think of it as a theme to your soup pot: if it’s Mexican and you need some body to it, add a drained, rinsed can of pinto beans. If it’s more the traditional French or Italian soup pot, with say vegetables, meatballs or chicken, add some pasta or potatoes if you need starch.
For the patient, dedicated cook, here’s a minestrone recipe my daughter, Megan, gave me. It feeds an army. Megan actually makes a double batch if she’s going to dice all those vegetables. She keeps it in the freezer in batches that will feed two adults and two pre-schoolers, and she says the children love it.

Minestrone

1/3 c. olive or salad oil

¼ c. butter

1 large onion, diced

2 large carrots, diced

2 stalks celery, diced

2 medium potatoes, diced

½ lb. green beans, trimmed and cut in 1” pieces

Sauté the above in a large soup pot until lightly browned. Add,

6 c. water

16 oz. can diced tomatoes

5 oz. fresh spinach, shredded

2 medium zucchini, diced

6 beef bouillon cubes

1 tsp. salt (taste first)

Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer 40 minutes.

Add:

1 16 oz. can cannellini (white kidney) beans

1 16 oz. can red kidney beans

Cook 15 minutes until slightly thick. Do not overcook.

Sprinkle each serving with grated fresh parmesan or romano.

Serve with crusty French bread or garlic bread. Just slice the bread, spread it with soft butter, sprinkle with pressed garlic, chopped parsley, and parmesan or Romano. Broil until just brown at the edges.

Good food and beer cans

Had a delicious dinner tonight. Betty and I went to a restaurant I'd been kind of avoiding becauses I thought it was all steaks. But on the way there I directed her by the beer-can house--it was in the paper a week or so ago and really is remarkable. It's a modest house, to say the least, in a mostly industrial neighborhood,, but the owner--obviously a devotee of Miller Lite--has decorated his yard with countless long strandes of beer cans. He threw rope or whatever or tree limbs, strung the cans and secured them to the fence posts. Then he learned to make Christmas-style ornaments by cutting slits in the cans and crushing them, so those ornaments dangle from the strands and every other imaginable surface. It is absolutely amazing. Apparently people like us drive by all the time and some leave him six-packs. He says when he's short of money, he just cashes in a strand.
Then we went to Lambert's for dinner--every bite was scrumptious. We ate on the patio which was nice. I had grilled quail with chorizo/cornbread stuffing in a cactus pear vinaigrette (an appetizer)--delicious, but next time I'll ask for the sauce on the side so I can pick up the quail and get every bite of meat. Betty had shrimp in a barbecue, white wine and butter sauce and loved it--she delights in ordering shrimp because she knows I can't eat it. We split a side of green chile cheese grits--smooth, creamy, and wonderful. The side was huge, and she took the remainder home to Don. We decided it was one of our best eating adventures ever, and we'll go back. Next time I want to try to wild boar ribs--and the grits again.

My neighbor Jay (you know, the handsome one) took Scooby for his summer haircut today. Scoob is always glad to be rid of that heavy winter coat, and I am always glad to be rid of the great clumps of hair that fell out all over the house. Besidees he looks adorable--Scooby that is,not Jay.

Dogs, weight, and my hero of the day

I took my dog to the vet today for his annual check-up. This is not as easy as it sounds. Scooby is a ten-year-old Australian shepherd who still thinks he's two and has the energy and enthusiasm to go with the age of his imagination. Getting him into the car is no problem--getting the collar around his neck is more so, and keeping him in the back seat is a major undertaking. Last night on the phone Colin said to me, "Be very careful," worried about Scoob interfering with my driving. This morning the dog was absolutely beside himself because we saw bicyclists and another dog--he knew he had to get out there and herd them! When I got to the vet's office (on a very busy street corner), I simply called and asked if someone would come get him, which they most obligingly did. Then mid-morning the vet called to say he needed his teeth cleaned, which always scares me. I once lost a dog to cardiac arrest after he had his teeth cleaned (he had other health issues, although he was a young dog), but then I also once lost my mom's old dog to systemic infection which came from infected teeth. So I now grit my own teeth and go ahead with it. After lunch, however, I had a moment of panic and called to tell them he'd eaten this morning. He'd already had his teeth cleaned and was waking up, so tonight I have a healthy, shots-up-to-date dog and a much lighter wallet.
I asked about Scooby's weight, because he looks so much heavier to me, but it's just his winter coat which needs to come off. With the weather we've had, I'm afraid to have his summer haircut yet. I had hoped he'd gained a bit so that I could say, "Well, that makes two of us." But he hasn't. I have. I was appalled when I stepped on the scale yesterday--after losing the week before, I had gained almost two pounds. And I thought I was doing so well. I've gone back to watching my points according to the Weight Watchers system and fear it will be a lifelong process. The minute I step off I gain a pound or two. After that strict vow, a friend talked me into Chadra for lunch today, and I had the kids' portion of spaghettini with meat sauce--huge! I ate half, feeling guilty but managed to stay under my points for the day. And, darn, that spaghetti was good.
My hero of the day (really yesterday) is former Dallas mayor Ron Kirk, now a trade ambassador or something for the Federal government. At a news luncheon with reporters, he was asked about Governor Perry's comments about secession, and his answer was spot on about the poor state of Texas, the lack of money allocated to education and health care for kids, and a lot of other concerns for human beings that are lacking in our state. And he concluded by saying he'd grown up under Jim Crow, and he didn't want to go back to that. He was so lucid and clear about what he was saying that I cheered silently at my computer while reading. I really really hope he campaigns for Bill White, though some say he's positioning himself for a run for senator if Kay Bailey Hutchison steps down (which I don't think she'll do). But Kirk is a voice to listen to, and like most Texans I know, I'm ready to get rid of Governor Good-Hair and his macho two-faced talk about how good things are in Texas.