If you are like me, you love soup during cold winter months but cannot eat soup with salt in it (canned soups are out of the question for me), you can make your own soup, have it taste great, and not add any salt to it. Dried herbs are a great substitution for salt, but you want to avoid buying those herbs that contain some added salt (McCormick’s has a few blends with salt added to them). Below are two recipes of my own that are great to make whenever you feel like having some soup:
Beef and Vegetable Soup
For the beef stock:
Ingredients:
4 lbs short beef ribs
1/2 tablespoon bay leaves
1/2 tablespoon thyme
1 carrot, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 large tomato, chopped.
In a soup pot, place the ribs, chopped carrot, celery, tomato and add the bay leaves and thyme. Cook with the pot covered for about an hour and a half when the meat is tender. Remove the ribs, cut off the meat from the bones, eliminating any fat. Let the meat cool, then wrap up and refrigerate until the next day when you add the meat with the vegetables to the soup. Throw away the bones, strain the stock and allow it to cool. Place the beef stock in your refrigerator, making sure it is well covered in a large jar.
Vegetables:
2 carrots, sliced
2 potatoes, diced
2 stalks of celery, sliced
6 sprigs of fresh dill
1/4 cup of fresh shelled peas
1/4 cup of chopped parsley
Take out the beef stock from the refrigerator and remove the fat that has risen to the top. Place the stock into the soup pot, add the carrots, potatoes, celery, and fresh dill. Bring to a slow boil then simmer with the lid on the pot for fifteen minutes. Remove the dill and add the meat from the ribs. Cook for five minutes until the soup is hot, then it is ready to serve.
Ingredients:
For the stock:
1 whole chicken, skinned
1 onion, sliced
1 carrot, sliced
1 stalk of celery, sliced
1 tablespoon of minced garlic
Rinse the chicken after the skin has been removed from it and place in a soup pot. Cover with water. Put in the onion, carrot, celery, and garlic. Bring to a slow boil then reduce to simmer for an hour to an hour and a half long. Remove the chicken and vegetables, saving the chicken but throwing away the vegetables. Add:
1 onion, chopped
4 carrots, sliced
2 stalks of celery, sliced
1 1/2 cup small egg noodles or Orzo pasta
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
Put in the vegetables and rosemary and bring to a boil again. Remove the chicken from the bones and add to the soup. Once the water is boiling again, add the egg noodles or Orzo pasta and bring the heat down to medium, stirring occasionally. Once the noodles are done, add the chicken meat. Once the meat is warm with the rest of the soup, the soup is ready for serving.
