| Kitchen Sink Vegetable Soup | Wintertime Goulash |
| Chicken Noodle Soup | Cream of Asparagus Soup | Lentil Soup |
| Baked Onion Soup | Stewed Cabbage | Stewed Okra |
| Stewed Potatoes | Roast Stew |

Everything I can find goes into this soup except the kitchen sink, thus its name. There is one exception: green peas. Yuck, gag, puke, shoo we nasty. Don't drain the liquid from the vegetables. Serve with a crusty bread or cornbread.

1 pound ground beef
1 medium onion, sliced
4 or 5 large baking potatoes, chopped into bite-sized pieces
2 or 3 carrots
1 can whole tomatoes, crushed or cut up
1 can whole kernel corn
2 cups chopped cabbage - optional
1 (46 ounce) can V8 juice
2 tablespoons Italian dressing
2 Dashes of Tabasco
Salt and pepper to taste
Lots of garlic to make me happy (about 3-4 chopped garlic)

Sauté onions in Italian dressing until translucent.

Add in ground beef and brown. Drain off excess fat, and add all ingredients to large pot.

Cook on low, stirring occasionally until vegetables are tender, oh say about 1.5 to 2 hours. Water may be added if a thinner soup is desired.

This sounds nasty, I can't believe I'm putting it in here. I mean -- cream of mushroom soup and tomatoes? Ah, who knows? It might be good.

1 1/2 cups long macaroni, broken into 3-inch pieces
2 tablespoons Italian dressing
1 1/2 pound ground beef
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 can peeled tomatoes
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can red kidney beans
Salt and pepper to taste

Cook macaroni according to package directions. Drain and set aside. Put Italian dressing in large skillet and add in onion and meat. Cook until meat is brown; drain off excess grease. Put all ingredients in large pot and simmer for around 1 hour.

This simple soup warms you down to your toes! This recipe serves four and is wonderful when you have the sniffles. The secret is the hot sauce. It gets the "juices" flowing. Eww, that really sounded gross.

3 cans condensed clear chicken broth
2 1/2 cans water
1 medium carrot, shredded with a potato peeler
2 to 3 dashes garlic powder or 3 cloves garlic, minced
Dash poultry seasoning
4 or more good dashes of hot pepper sauce
1/2 teaspoon onion flakes
1 stalk celery, chopped fine (optional - I leave this out because my kids think celery tastes like boogers, even though it adds some great flavor)
2 boneless and skinless chicken breasts, boiled and shredded
2 cups uncooked spiral noodles

Bring everything (except noodles) to a simmer (on medium heat) and cook until carrots and celery are tender, around 20 minutes. Add noodles and turn off heat. Let soup steep until noodles are tender, about 10 minutes.

1 pound asparagus
4 cups chicken stock
1 small onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup chopped celery
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 egg yolks
1/3 cup cream

Snap asparagus at breaking point. Rinse and cut into 1-inch lengths, reserving tips. Simmer tips in small amount of water just until tender. Set aside. Place stalks in 3 quart saucepan with stock, onion and celery. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 10 minutes or until asparagus is tender. Pour soup into blender and puree at high speed about 30 seconds. Melt butter in large saucepan over low heat. Stir in flour, salt and pepper. Cook 3 to 4 minutes, stirring constantly. Slowly add asparagus stock and heat through. In small bowl, combine egg yolks and cream. Add about 1/2 cup of hot soup to egg mixture; stir well. Slowly add to soup, stirring constantly over low heat. Do not let soup boil. Add asparagus tips. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve in soup bowls and garnish with chopped hard-cooked egg (ewwww). Serves 6 to 8.

My friend Nat from Washington gave me this recipe.

Ham bone with scraps or 1/3 cup chopped ham
Garlic powder
Chopped onion
Cubed carrots
Finely chopped celery
1 pound bag of lentils

Saute onion until carmelizes, then simmer the ham bone covered with water salt pepper, garlic powder and onions, cubed carrots, and bits of celery.

Remove bone and pick off meat returning it to the pot of water in mini bits. Add bag of lentils and vegetables, bring to boil and turn down and simmer until soft about an hour or so, the longer it sits the better it is.

This makes 4 servings.

3 medium onions, sliced in thin rings
2 teaspoons oil
2 to 4 tablespoons soy sauce
1 quart Chicken or Turkey Broth
4 slices whole wheat bread
1 Tbsp Parmesan or cheddar cheese

In large nonstick fry pan, cook onion rings in oil for 5 - 7 minutes or until onions are tender. Add soy sauce and broth. Cover and bake in a 250º oven for 1 hour. Or, cover and simmer about 20 minutes. Ladle into bowls. Top with a slice of whole wheat bread and a sprinkle of cheese.

Half a head or so of cabbage, cut into bite-sized pieces
Finely chopped onion OR onion flakes
Bacon grease
Salt to taste
Garlic powder

Place cabbage in heavy pot and cover with water. Add all ingredients. Simmer until tender (half-hour or so) and then re-season.

1 cup fresh okra
1 medium onion
1/4 cup oil
3 tomatoes
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Slice okra; cook in boiling salted water for 10 minutes. Drain well and set aside. Sauté onion in oil. Add tomatoes after peeled and quartered; cook over medium heat 5 minutes. Stir in okra, sugar, flour, salt and pepper. Cook over low heat for 5 to 8 minutes or until okra is tender. Makes 4 servings.

I absolutely love these!

Potatoes (1 to 2 for each person)
Salt
Garlic - 1 clove for 2 people
Butter or margarine
Minced onion flakes
Teriyaki sauce
Parmesan cheese

Peel and slice the potatoes. Boil them in water with salt, minced onions, and garlic until tender and then spice them up as you please. I usually melt butter in them and stir in teriyaki sauce, and then top them off with some grated Parmesan cheese.

This is best when using leftover roast and its yummy juices. If using fresh roast, this takes a long time to make!

Sirloin roast cut into 1-inch cubes
6 Potatoes, cut into 1.5-inch cubes
Chopped Garlic - 1 clove for 2 people
1 Sliced onion
1 cup carrots, chopped into 1 inch wide slices
3 cans beef broth
3 Tablespoons A1 Sauce
1 Tablespoon Teriyaki Sauce
1 Teaspoon Salt
1/4 Teaspoon freshly ground pepper
2 cups water
1 Tablespoon bacon grease

In stew pot, add beef broth, A1 Sauce, Teriyaki Sauce, salt, pepper and water, and set temperature on low.

In a skillet over medium heat, saute onion in bacon grease, when carmelized, remove and put into stew pot. Add meat to skillet. Sear all sides of roast cubes. When roast is seared, add garlic and brown for a minute or two. Add 1/2 cup of liquid from stew pot to deglaze the skillet. Once deglazed, pour contents of skillet into stew pot.

Simmer the meat until it either falls apart or is fork-tender. This will take 2-3 hours. Make sure the liquid doesn't cook away, by adding water when needed.

When meat is texture you want, add potatoes and carrots then cook until they're fork tender. The liquid needs to cover the meat and veggies.

Serve with thick crusty bread or a slab of cornbread.