Spring has arrived and in true fashion it has hardly stopped raining for the past 8 days. So, soup and not just any soup. Hamburger Soup. If you haven’t heard of Hamburger Soup then you probably didn’t grow up “in the middle” of Canada or the U.S. It’s a prairie thing which is a bit of an exclusive group but I guarantee if you make this it will be your free pass in.
There’s just one problem, it calls for a ‘can’ of tomato soup. Hold on. What? Food from a can (besides tomatoes?). So not Paleo. I’ve tinkered with the recipe over the past couple of years leaving the tomato soup out, adding tomato paste, leaving the tomato paste out and adding different spices. Nothing worked. I needed the tomato soup. That’s when I recalled seeing a video posted by Healthy Living How To on how to make tomato soup in a Vitamix (which I finally bought about a year ago after dreaming about having one since the beginning of time). While I watched the video (shaking my head at the pure simplicity of it all) I grabbed up all 4 ingredients I was going to use for my version and got to work. While the Vitamix was making my soup (did I mention it cooks it too?) I got the rest of the ingredients for the Hamburger Soup in the pot. A few hours later, voila! I am going to make it in my Instant Pot next time because waiting for 2 hours was excruciating and completely unnecessary.
UPDATE: I have tinkered with this recipe a little for two reasons: #1 – I realize that a lot of people don’t have a Vitamix or high speed blender and #2 – When it comes to cooking I like to “Keep It Super Simple” (K.I.S.S.) and have been able to eliminate the need to make the tomato soup in a blender. Check out the recipe below for the new, easy method.
I had a bowl for dinner last night and when I woke up this morning to a world shrouded in fog I couldn’t wait to have it for lunch. As life sometimes goes the fog lifted and it’s a balmy 24C outside right now. But you know what they say, when you’re hot eat something hot to cool you down. So, soup.
Serves: 6
Author: Cassie Elliott
Prep time: 20 minutes Cooking time: 1.5 hours
Hearty Hamburger and Vegetable Soup:
- 2 lbs. ground beef (organic or grassfed if available)
- 1 large white or yellow onion
- 1 tablespoon avocado oil
- 5 large carrots
- 2 stalks celery
- 1 small head of cabbage
- 1 796 ml can organic diced tomatoes
- 4 cups organic beef broth
- 1 cup water
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 t. fish Sauce (Red Boat or Thai Kitchen if available)
- Salt & pepper to taste
- 10 oz. tomato soup (see recipe below)
INSTRUCTIONS
- Saute onions in oil for 5 -7 minutes or until translucent.
- Add ground beef and garlic to pan. Season with salt and pepper. Cook until browned.
- Drain excess fat.
- Meanwhile chop carrots, celery and cabbage. When chopping vegetables, try to keep the pieces similar in size so that they cook evenly (no one likes mushy carrots).
- Add vegetables, tomato soup, diced tomatoes, beef stock, water, fish sauce and ground beef mixture to stock pot. Bring to a gentle boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 1 hour or until vegetables are cooked. You can also throw everything into your Instant Pot and press the Soup button. Release pressure when cooking time is complete.
- Serve and enjoy!
TOMATO SOUP
- 1 396ml can of crushed tomatoes
- 1 cup coconut milk
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- pinch of salt and pepper
INSTRUCTIONS
- Add all ingredients to large mixing bowl. Whisk to mix well. Add to soup as noted above.
This soup is one of my family’s favourites!
Yay! That makes me so happy to hear. Thanks for letting me know.