Every Sunday when I was growing up we would go to church and then afterwards to my great grandmother's house for lunch. Grandma lived with my great aunt, Cissie, in a wonderful old two story white farmhouse with a huge grassy yard. Cissie grew up in this house and then became a caretaker for my great grandmother in her later years. Here is a picture of Cissie with a "on her way to her morning nap" Lily...
Behind Grandma's house was a small garden where she and Cissie grew many of the vegetables that they used in their cooking. Our Sunday lunches were always completely homemade and always included fresh baked bread. I have really fond memories of these lunches and have been hoping to find a time when Cissie could share Grandma's bread recipe with me. Both of our calendars happened to be open this past Saturday and so Cissie came over early for breakfast and then afterwards the bread making commenced. I was warned that this would take some time because the bread has to rise twice.
I only have a couple of pictures because as you can imagine taking photos with sticky, gooey hands is a little difficult. Hannah was invited to help but after warily touching the dough with the tip of one finger she announced that her hands might get dirty so she was just going to watch. She is very particular about having clean hands and so I forged on alone. Making bread is actually very easy but letting the dough rise is a little time consuming. The rising dough was a good excuse to sit and visit with a cup of coffee (for Mom and Cissie) and tea (por moi). Cissie left us to do the actual baking ourselves and I took Hannah and Lily outside to play while the bread was in the oven. When I came back inside Mom's house smelled exactly like Grandma's house had so many years ago. The bread tasted just like I remember and we all agreed that it was way better than any store bought bread.
I think the bread would be great with this...
Bekah has been
1 lb Stew meat
3 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil
½ cup Flour
1 teaspoon Tony Chachere’s
1 large Onion chopped
3 stalks Celery chopped
1 Bell pepper chopped
1 can Tomato paste
1 can Rotel tomatoes
2 cups water
1 large bag frozen Mixed vegetables
1 small bag frozen okra
1 bag of cabbage slaw mix or one head of cabbage sliced
Salt, Pepper, Italian seasoning, Tabasco to taste.
Note: I don't really measure amounts or follow a recipe so the quantities listed are an approximation. Once the tomato paste is browned you can vary the ingredients. I prefer frozen vegetable mix without potatoes and will often chop up and throw in older vegetables from the refrigerator. I will say it twice in the recipe, but DO NOT ADD TOO MUCH WATER, it will ruin the soup and you can’t take it back out.
Place the flour, Tony Chachere’s seasoning, and stew meat in a Ziploc bag and shake it until the meat is thoroughly coated
Heat the oil in a large soup pot on medium high heat
Add the flour coated stew meat to the pot and stir until all sides are browned
Remove the meat from the pot and add the chopped onion. Cook until it starts to soften.
Add celery and bell pepper and cook until everything is softened and water has begun to cook out of the vegetables.
Stir in tomato paste and continue stirring until the paste starts to brown. Be careful not to let it burn to the bottom of the pot, you will have to scrape it off the bottom every few minutes.
Add the rotel, stew meat, and enough water to thin the tomato paste to tomato sauce consistency.
Add the mixed vegetables, okra and cabbage and a half cup of water. I usually just fill the rotel can with water, swirl it around and pour it in. You may need to add a little more water, but it should not look like soup at this point. Do not add too much water, the water will cook out of the vegetables as the soup cooks.
Bring the pot back to a boil, cover, and reduce the heat to medium low. Continue cooking for several hours until the cabbage begins to cook down. Add water and seasonings to taste as the soup cooks. I already said it above, but do not add too much water.
3 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil
½ cup Flour
1 teaspoon Tony Chachere’s
1 large Onion chopped
3 stalks Celery chopped
1 Bell pepper chopped
1 can Tomato paste
1 can Rotel tomatoes
2 cups water
1 large bag frozen Mixed vegetables
1 small bag frozen okra
1 bag of cabbage slaw mix or one head of cabbage sliced
Salt, Pepper, Italian seasoning, Tabasco to taste.
Note: I don't really measure amounts or follow a recipe so the quantities listed are an approximation. Once the tomato paste is browned you can vary the ingredients. I prefer frozen vegetable mix without potatoes and will often chop up and throw in older vegetables from the refrigerator. I will say it twice in the recipe, but DO NOT ADD TOO MUCH WATER, it will ruin the soup and you can’t take it back out.
Place the flour, Tony Chachere’s seasoning, and stew meat in a Ziploc bag and shake it until the meat is thoroughly coated
Heat the oil in a large soup pot on medium high heat
Add the flour coated stew meat to the pot and stir until all sides are browned
Remove the meat from the pot and add the chopped onion. Cook until it starts to soften.
Add celery and bell pepper and cook until everything is softened and water has begun to cook out of the vegetables.
Stir in tomato paste and continue stirring until the paste starts to brown. Be careful not to let it burn to the bottom of the pot, you will have to scrape it off the bottom every few minutes.
Add the rotel, stew meat, and enough water to thin the tomato paste to tomato sauce consistency.
Add the mixed vegetables, okra and cabbage and a half cup of water. I usually just fill the rotel can with water, swirl it around and pour it in. You may need to add a little more water, but it should not look like soup at this point. Do not add too much water, the water will cook out of the vegetables as the soup cooks.
Bring the pot back to a boil, cover, and reduce the heat to medium low. Continue cooking for several hours until the cabbage begins to cook down. Add water and seasonings to taste as the soup cooks. I already said it above, but do not add too much water.
I highly recommend this recipe. It makes a lot but we freeze part and have it whenever the mood for veggie soup hits. It is dee-lish!!
You would dedicate a blog post to Cissie's bread! So not fair...my mouth is watering.
ReplyDeleteThanks for (finally)posting the recipe to the delicious veggie soup!! I'm going to go to the grocery tonight so I can make it over the weekend. It's supposed to snow up here! I'll have to purchase the loaf of bread this time BUT I WILL LEARN THE RECIPE AS WELL!!!!!!!
Much love--Sister B