Winter Soup and House Seasoning

By the time our temperature gets above freezing I will have made and frozen enough soup to supply the whole area of Loradale, Ky. That's where I live. Just a little about Loradale before we move on. No stop lights or signs, one church and one country store that sells beer, day old bread and milk that is two days passed the sell by date. Some of the finest folks you would ever want to meet live in the area. I'll keep you informed about Loradale, if anything should happen here.

I have made this soup for 20 plus years, no idea where the recipe came from or if I've just made it up at some time. It is one that everyone loves. Dig out the crock pot, or not. It can be cooked on top of the stove also. As Jill Conner Browne said," When you use your Crock Pot, you come home and it's like someone else cooked". This freezes beautifully without the macaroni, add it later when you're ready to serve. Keep some in the freezer for the nights when you just don't want to cook. If I'm going to the trouble to slice and dice, I'm going to double the recipe. Eat some now and freeze some for later.

If you have picky eaters as I sometimes do, my nephew, Randy. This is the one that ate ravioli from a can before I started cooking for him, has now become a food critic. He will not touch anything with carrots or celery visible. I put them in the food processor and he never knows. Slick, right.

Winter Soup
4 big servings
print recipe

1 pound ground chuck, chicken or turkey
1/4 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon house seasoning (recipe follows)
3 cups hot water
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 cup sliced carrots
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon basil
black pepper to taste if you need more
1 envelope onion soup mix
1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce or diced tomatoes in sauce
1 cup sliced celery
1 cup macaroni, cooked and drained

Brown beef, chicken or turkey. and drain most of the fat, place in crock pot. Add pepper, oregano basil, house seasoning and dry soup mix. Stir in water, tomato sauce or tomatoes and soy sauce. Then add celery and carrots. Cover and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours. Turn control to high and add cooked macaroni and cheese. Cover and cook on high 10-15 minutes. Makes 4 nice servings. This is great served with corn bread or crusty Italian bread.

House Seasoning

1 cup Kosher salt
1/4 cup coarse ground black pepper
1/4 cup granulated garlic powder

Mix well and store in air tight container. Use it on anything calling for salt and pepper.

A chef gave me this years ago and told me to use this on all my meats, pork and chicken and let it set overnight in the refrigerator. I know Paula Deen has one very close to this. Maybe she knew Chef A.J. also.