A short while ago, I was getting into my car at a parking lot in my town when this bright red maple leaf landed right in front of me. I took it home to photograph it.
Autumn officially begins tomorrow. The weather today started out relatively cold, but turned out beautiful, with a nice breeze and plenty of sun. Tuesdays can be a bit hectic so I made this soup. It combines the cast iron skillet with the crock pot, which is perfect for cooler days. I browned ground beef and combined it with easy ingredients to make a hearty dinner.
I once tried using ground beef in the crock pot without browning it first. Boy, that was a mistake!
Celebrate Autumn Soup
Brown 1 lb. of ground beef in the 10-inch cast iron skillet.
Put in a crock pot with:
1 Qt. gluten free beef broth. Be careful here....read labels! I once glutened John before understanding that broth can have gluten. Go figure....
Add:
1 onion, chopped,
2 potatoes, cubed,
1 8-oz can tomato sauce (I used Hunt's),
1 16-oz bag of frozen veggies (I used Birds' Eye Sugar Snap Stir Fry!)
3 cloves garlic, run through a garlic press,
1 tsp Italian seasoning, and
1 gluten free beef bouillon cube (Again, be careful and read labels! I used HerbOx.)
Turn on the crock pot and cook 4-5 hours on high or 8-10 hours on low.
My skillet seemed to need a bit of seasoning today for whatever reason. After cleaning it with hot water and salt, I spread on some Crisco shortening, heated it up a little on the stove, then wiped out the excess.
Looking good!
