I am a recovering Army brat who loves to travel and start new adventures. My handsome husband and I met at Oklahoma Christian University and he whisked me away to Kansas. So, I bought some ruby red high heels and made Topeka my home. I have a rough and rowdy Princess 4-year-old girl, amazing twin boys (almost 3) and a newborn baby girl who all make every day an adventure. We are grateful to be part of an amazing church in Topeka who regularly challenges and encourages our whole family. I have been both a full-time working mom and a stay-at-home-mom and/or both at the same time at one point or another. I am constantly seeking God’s wisdom on “balancing it all” and following His plan for my life, not mine.
This harvest soup recipe came to life when I was desperately needing a good dinner and I had to play Chopped in my own kitchen. Menu planning fail. We’ve all been there, ha!
Harvest Soup is so great during the fall but it is a total comfort food for me all winter long. I love this recipe because it is very forgiving and ingredients are easy to sub out if you need to clean out your pantry (I’ll make some suggestions below.).
Essentially, this is a beef vegetable stew that uses pumpkin puree instead of canned tomatoes and broth. Stay with me, I know it sounds weird but it works. I am terrible at measuring when I’m cooking, so please adjust below for your own taste. I love to serve this with warm beer bread, and that recipe is also below.
What you need:
1 lb ground beef
1 tsp salt
ground black pepper to taste
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 can of pumpkin puree (not sweetened pie filling, plain puree)
1/2 cup of diced onion (red or yellow vidalia is best, but can be any kind)
1-2 Tbs of dried Herbs de Provence (or use dried thyme, rosemary, tarragon, basil, marjoram, etc)
1 Tbsp butter
Olive oil
1 large sweet potato, peeled and diced (I often substitute for 2 Yukon golds as seen in the picture for this post, but the sweet potato really is best in this soup)
1 cup of frozen sweet corn or 1 can of sweet corn, rinsed and drained)
1/2 cup of carrots, diced
1 cup(ish)of white wine (You can also use broth–I usually have broth ready to add to this anyway if I need to bring up the liquid level without diminishing the flavor)
1 cup of milk (plus more if needed), or half-and-half
For soup:
*Note: I’ve made this with leftover roasted sweet potatoes and it was delicious. If you have time to roast them ahead of time to get great caramelization on them, it’s delicious. If they are pre-cooked, then add them toward the end of cooking to avoid them becoming too mushy.
Begin to brown the beef with salt and pepper and about 1/2 Tbsp of the dried herbs. Next, add the onion and saute until tender. Add garlic and saute for about 30 seconds to 1 minute more; then remove all from pan into a bowl and set aside. Drain the extra grease.
Return pot to burner and add 2 Tbsp butter and a drizzle of olive oil. Add potato and carrots and saute until potato begins to brown on the outside or soften slightly. Deglaze pan with white wine (scrape up all the brown bits). Put beef mixture back in pot, then stir in the pumpkin puree thoroughly until well combined. If it’s very thick, add broth until it can combine smoothly. Pour milk in slowly along with the rest of the dried Herbs de Provence. Bring to boil and reduce to simmer. Simmer until potatoes and carrots are cooked through. Season to taste and add corn in the last 5 minutes of cooking. If it reduces too much and becomes too thick, add more wine or broth until you like the consistency.
Again, I love to serve this with beer bread!
Here is a super easy, versatile beer bread recipe:
3 cups flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/3 cup brown sugar, loosely packed OR white sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
12 ounces of your favorite beer (I prefer malty beers. I also tend to think IPAs leave a hoppy aftertaste that I don’t love in this bread.)
3 Tbsp melted butter
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a standard size bread pan or line with parchment.
Whisk the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Carefully pour over beer of choice and mix gently just until combined. Don’t overmix–the dough should be light and sticky. Place in a bread pan and form it gently into place. Pour melted butter right on top and pop it in the oven for about 50 minutes or until an inserted knife comes out clean. You can smell when it’s done. 🙂 It is delicious with a pat of butter on a warm slice.
Hope you enjoy this meal!
Let your taste buds enjoy these delicious soups as well!
I am a recovering Army brat who loves to travel and start new adventures. My handsome husband and I met at Oklahoma Christian University and he whisked me away to Kansas. So, I bought some ruby red high heels and made Topeka my home. I have a rough and rowdy Princess 4-year-old girl, amazing twin boys (almost 3) and a newborn baby girl who all make every day an adventure. We are grateful to be part of an amazing church in Topeka who regularly challenges and encourages our whole family. I have been both a full-time working mom and a stay-at-home-mom and/or both at the same time at one point or another. I am constantly seeking God’s wisdom on “balancing it all” and following His plan for my life, not mine.
I grew up in a home where my parents entertained pretty frequently. We always had people in our house for my dad’s job, or church fellowship, or just because my mom, who is a natural hostess, invited someone over that night. My mom has always impressed me with how she can entertain in a pinch and everything was always wonderful. Someday I will grow up to be like my mom. She was a Pinterest mom before that was a “thing” and she came by it naturally from my grandmother. It also might be an Army wife thing. One of my mom’s many gifts is hospitality and generosity.
Thankfully, this has all resulted in tons of impressive but quick dinners, appetizers, and sides that never fail. Go Mom!
I love to cook and I love to entertain, although I am not as good as my mom at hosting and my “skills” in hospitality have progressively worsened after I had kids… oh well. I’m working on it.
Hospitality
Hospitality is a spiritual gift for some and for others, it seems like a nightmare. Even if you enjoy it, sometimes hospitality is inconvenient. A dear friend and mentor of mine once challenged me to allow myself to be inconvenienced. She urged me to intentionally change my attitude about serving others when it seemed to push me outside my comfort bubble. She challenged me to open my heart to opportunities that seemed to cause more work or interruption in my day and see how the Lord worked through it to minister not only to me, but to allow myself to be used in those situations to serve others and be hospitable.
Here are a few verses to meditate on:
1 Peter 4:9 (ESV) – “Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.”
Romans 12:13 (ESV) – “Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.”
Hebrews 13:2 (ESV) – “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”
Some of these are talking about the serving the body of Christ as a whole, but the idea here is serving others and having a right heart about showing love even in the midst of inconvenience in your day, or all the stress or the hours of clean up.
Hospitality Challenge
I want to encourage you to look for ways to serve not only other fellow members of the church, but your community as well. This might even look like being helpful or “hospitable” to a fellow mom at a park you usually go to (anyone ever forget the diaper bag?!), maybe it looks like offering to run an errand for someone, or taking a meal. Truly, I think our challenge here is looking for opportunities to serve with a willing heart outside of our comfort bubble or our plan for the day, however that may look in your life.
You never know when serving someone, even in a seemingly small way, is “entertaining angels” or helping to further God’s Kingdom.
All that being said, every once in awhile we just need to make a meal that tastes good but doesn’t require an all-day production. Sometimes family pops over for dinner unexpectedly, or maybe you decided to invite that new person at church over, or bring something to the family down the street going through a rough time. Usually, (or if I really plan ahead) I go to the crock pot for some of my favorite feed-a-crowd deliciousness but sometimes I don’t have time for a crock pot meal to cook.
Here is a great meal that strikes a nice chord between homemade and super convenient.
Behold: Homemade meatballs, tomato sauce and pasta.
This can be easily doubled or tripled for either a big group or to freeze. My kids love these so I usually have a bag in the freezer that I can use for a quick lunch (or to feed an impromptu dinner guest).
Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef
1 lb ground Italian Sausage – any kind you like, I use sweet or mild for the kids
¾ cup Italian breadcrumbs (In a pinch I’ve also used panko, but increase seasonings by at least a tsp each if you use unseasoned crumbs.)
2 cloves minced garlic
¼ cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
1 tsp each of the following:
Dried oregano
Dried thyme
Dried basil
OR
1 Tbsp of your favorite Italian seasoning
Optional: fresh snipped basil
1 box of penne or spaghetti pasta
Tomato Sauce:
What’s more cheater and delicious than a good jarred sauce? Buy two, or get one jar of your favorite sauce and one can of diced Italian tomatoes.
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. .
Dump all the ingredients (except the sauce and pasta) into a bowl and mix with your hands just until well-combined. Don’t over-mix or your meatballs will get tough. Tip: mix using your fingers, don’t “knead” the meat.
If the meat mixture seems too dry (if it’s really crumbly and not coming together into balls), add about 1 tsp of olive oil at a time to gain the right consistency.
Grease a large cookie sheet or two depending on the size of your meatballs. Roll them into anywhere from about 1-inch to 2-inch balls. Make smaller ones for it to stretch further; big ones are fun for meatball sandwiches.
Bake at 400 degrees for 12-15 minutes on the middle rack.
Use it all now or freeze it for later
If you are using them right away, dump the whole tray (drippings and all) into a pot of your favorite jarred spaghetti sauce. I recommend two standard jars for this, or one jar and one 14 oz can of Italian diced tomatoes. If you are feeling fancy, you can even make your own sauce, you know, with all your free time ;).
Let it simmer together for at least 20 minutes, or up to an hour on low. Season to taste and serve with cooked pasta!
I like to use a box of penne with this. Toss it in the sauce and meatballs and throw a handful of shredded mozzarella or some fresh chopped Italian parsley on top for a quick delicious meal that feeds a large group.
Serve with some crusty bread and a salad (even a bag-o-salad). It’s a wonderful hearty meal everyone will love.
Again, these meatballs freeze great and they are pretty forgiving on measurements. If you make them ahead, then just add them cold to the sauce and heat together on medium until it’s all heated through.
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