Nothing makes me happier than using what I have on hand to make an amazing meal from scratch. Well, nothing besides the kids actually eating their dinner without complaint. Oh! And ice cream on a hot summer day. And puppy kisses. *smiles* I like puppies.
Sorry, I've been easily distracted today.
Anyway, I made the MOST AMAZING SOUP! No really, like lick-the-bowl good and I only used 5 ingredients, one of them being an onion so that doesn't even count because onion is like in everything, isn't it?
This is what I pulled out of my pantry.
And here's why…
- I got beef breakfast sausage in last week's farm share. Now, I LOVE breakfast sausage but I'm the only one in the house who does. And I really don't want to be eating breakfast sausage for the next month so I decided to use it as a basis for my soup.
- I have also gotten a LOT of sweet potatoes from the farm these past few weeks and although I can kind-of get my kids to eat them I am also the only one in the house who LOVES them. So I've been finding ways to use them up before they rot. Solution: Add them to soup!
- I've been trying to keep at least 1 carton of beef broth and one carton of chicken broth in my pantry at all times. It makes whipping up soups like today possible.
- The frozen peas were my solution to not having anything else green in the house. At first I was thinking kale or chard or something but I've been there and done that. Plus I didn't have any on hand. What I did have was peas and they seemed like a good addition.
- My sweet onion half was all I had in the onion department. I already used up all the red ones I got from the farm. I tend to use a lot of onion even though I'm not the biggest fan. It's just how I start out most dishes, especially soups
I pulled this together midday and the result was UNBELIEVABLY good. EVEN the husband thought so!!
Did you hear me? The Husband. My Husband. He liked this soup. That pretty much means anyone would. I mean, anyone.
Here's what I did. I hope you can create a similar yumminess at home using what you have on hand.
- ½ sweet onion, chopped
- 8oz (274g) beef breakfast sausage links, cut into chunks
- 1 large sweet potato, cubed (I only used the big one pictured; it was just under 400g)
- 1 carton (32oz) beef broth
- 1 12oz bag of frozen peas
Heat a pot over medium-high heat, spray with non-stick cooking spray and start to cook the onions.
Add the cut sausage. To do this I simply used my kitchen shears and cut chunks right into the pot.
It's far faster and cleaner than trying to cut with a knife. Just be sure to wash the scissors when done.
While the sausage and onion are cooking, chop the sweet potato into small cubes. Add it to the pot.
Toss everything together and let it cook a minute or two.
Add the broth and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Once it just starts to boil, cover and simmer on low. I cooked mine for about 40 minutes as I was preoccupied with other things, 25 would have been fine. My potatoes were a little overdone.
Once the potatoes are cooked to your liking, add the frozen peas. Stir.
Wait 2 minutes then serve! The peas will still pop and be fresh in the bowl!
I love when simple ingredients make amazing dishes.
I ended up with exactly 8 cups of soup. There's 2 cups in the bowl pictured which I think is a great serving size but I'll give you the info per cup in case you want to have it more as a side dish than a meal. It's easier to double than halve.
| Servings | Amt per Serving | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | 1 cup | |||
| Calories | Fat | Fiber | WWPs | |
| 150 | 3g | 4g | old: 2.5 | new: 4 |
| Sugar | Sat Fat | Carbs | Protein | |
| 5g | 1g | 20g | 11g | |
I like your name Roni 🙂
This looks so good. I'm going to make it this evening. Just wondering, is 2 minutes enough to actually even defrost the peas? You mention to toss them in at the end and cook for 2 minutes. Seems like they'd still be frozen.
Elizabeth,
Yes, 2 minute was perfect. Peas defrost quickly. You can of course cook them longer but I like when they still pop and keep their green color.
Hope that helps!
I just made this soup, love it! Thanks for sharing
This soup turned out really good, thanks Roni!
Someone asked about chopping vegetables. I have this...
Prepworks from Progressive GPC-4000 Fruit and Vegetable Chopper
I use it for onions, sweet potatoes and lots of other things. I didn't understand how to use it at first so it sat in the cupboard until my son showed me how they did it on food network. You cut chunks of vegetables, place the lid down on it and then slam the lid with your fist. Works great, doesn't break it, and makes awesome diced veggies. Great for taking out your aggression too 🙂
For me it comes down to flavor. Bouillon cubes just taste salty to me. I think they do have a bit more sodium too.
And I'm not very good with portions either. 🙂
Looks delicious: Question : so many folks use a broth rather than bouillon cubes --
why do you seem to prefer the broth? Which has the most sodium? How did you
ever cut your sweet potatoes in such small, perfect, cubes?
Love what you do for all of us. Also liked the 2-cup serving size: (never have been
very good with "portion control". 🙁
bhe
Totally missed your cutting questions. I use this technique..
https://greenlitebites.com/2008/01/03/cutting-sweet-potato-fries-video-post/
and then just cut the fries in cubes.
Hope that helps!
Could you use Morning star Breakfast Links or crumbles or fingerling potatoes instead of sweet?
My other half hates sweet potatoes!
I don't see why not! Give it a try!
What a great recipe. I can't wait to try it out over the weekend. I have a lots of sweet potatos that I need to use up plus an industrial size bag of frozen peas. Perfect!
YUM. I love eating soup, especially for lunch. I have been using Jimmy Dean reduced fat breakfast sausage in a lot of things lately (only I hate that it has msg) because I have a bunch of them in the freezer. I'm super impressed that your husband liked the soup!