Vegetable Beef Soup Guide

I’m not calling this a recipe because I’m not giving exact measurements, etc.

Some things to know before starting:

• Know how to use your canner and be sure you know about adjustments you may need for high altitude.
• I use an All American canner and the one I use for large loads holds 14 quarts.
• I find wide mouth quarts the best to use for a project like this.

The Meat:

Determine how much meat you will want in each jar. I wanted 8 ounces of meat in each jar. I’d rather have the vegetables than the meat so I figured 5 ounces of meat for Vince and 3 ounces for me but we don’t measure at meal time.

I actually did the math. I figured that by the time I trimmed the meat and cut away any excess fat or parts we didn’t want to eat, I should start with about 10 ounces of meat per jar so 10 oz. x 14 jars so I needed about 8.75 pounds of meat. I had several smaller bottom round roasts and the combination I came up with about right close to 10 pounds.

I cut all the meat into about bite size pieces, seasoned it well with the Cajun Redhead seasoning I love, and browned it in hot oil in small batches.

Then . . I know it’s anal but I weighed out 8 ounces of meat for each jar.

The Veggies:

Once the meat was done browning, I added the following veggies that I had chopped and sauteed them a bit: 2 onions, 1 jalapeno, 1 red bell pepper, 3 ribs of celery. Once that was sauteed, I put it in the jars . . starting with 2 T. per jar and going back and adding more til it was all in the jars.

I had soaked some dry pinto beans overnight. I never put too many beans because they can absorb all the liquid and take up too much room in the jar. In each jar, I put 2 T. of the soaked pinto beans. I cut up 7 carrots, and as I sliced them, I counted the slices and knew I was getting about 24 slices per carrot so I put 12 slices of carrots per jar. I had 4 cans each of green beans and corn so I put a little less than 1/3 of a can of each per jar and I was just guessing at the amounts I was putting in. I peeled the potatoes and for the good, medium size potatoes, I put 1/4 of a potato in each jar.

I had broccoli but the jars were getting too full so I didn’t use it.

Seasoning:

I use Lawry’s Salt, black pepper and Italian herb mix. I just shake some into each jar and will adjust the seasonings when I serve the soup.

Tomatoes & Liquid:

I had 2 large (48 oz. maybe) and 1 smaller can of tomatoes. I put 1/4 cup of tomatoes in each jar. Then, to each jar I added 1 tsp. of beef flavored Better than Bouillon and then filled the jars with warm water to the level I should, leaving the appropriate head space.

Processing:

Clean the top of the jars, wipe down with a towel and white vinegar, place the lids and rings on, tighten the rings and process in the canner. For quarts, I keep it at 10 pounds for 90 minutes.

You can almost see the layers in the jars.

Once I finished with the soup for the jars, I had probably enough meat left for 6 quarts so I put the meat and more pinto beans that had not even been soaked in the Instant Pot, with a can of tomatoes and about 6 cups of water and 4 teaspoons of beef Better than Bouillon. I cooked that under pressure for 45 minutes. At that point, I was totally tired so I let it cool down and stored it in the fridge overnight.

This morning, I took it out and finished it. I added another can of diced tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, corn, broccoli, green beans. I didn’t even add onions, celery or peppers. I let it simmer slowly for probably 45 minutes.

Vince raved about it. You would have thought it was the best soup he’d ever had. I ended up with two half gallon jars leftover after we both ate so tomorrow, I’ll divide that up in freezer containers and freeze it. Since it’s already cooked completely, if I put it in quart jars and pressure canned it for 90 minutes, everything would be mush so I’ll just freeze the leftovers.

I’m writing all this from memory after a very busy today and I’m really tired so if something doesn’t look or sound write, please leave a comment and I’ll try to straighten it out.