Two Great Homemade Soup Recipes to Warm You Up

With the onset of fall and winter following close behind, it is a good time to get prepared with some delicious soup recipes to warm you from the inside out. These recipes were a couple of my favorites on the cold winter days when my mother would get the soup pot out and start adding ingredients.

In the fall when my dad would go hunting my mother would always prepare a big pot of Jungle Stew to send with the hunters. They would reheat it over the fire to warm themselves up after a long day out in the woods. I actually think it is better when it is reheated after the flavors have mingled. It is a great quick and easy soup to make that is sure to please everyone!

Jungle Stew

1 pound ground beef

Seasoning salt to preference

1 small to medium onion, depending on taste preference, chopped

1 clove garlic, finely minced

1 green pepper, chopped

1 tsp. salt

1 15 oz. can of Stewed Tomatoes, Mexican flavored Stewed Tomatoes add a little extra flavor if you like the spice

1 15 oz. can of Tomato Sauce

1 15 oz. can of water, more or less to taste

2 15 oz. cans of light red kidney beans or 1 large can

1 T. chili powder, more or less to taste

1 C. cooked macaroni

Add seasoning salt, onion, garlic and green pepper to ground beef and brown. Remove grease.

Using a medium to large soup pot, add ground beef mixture and the rest of the ingredients. Bring to a boil and let simmer for half an hour or so for the flavors to mingle. This recipe goes great with some corn muffins on the side.

Homemade Bean Soup has always been one of our families favorites too, also a great belly warmer for a cold day.

Homemade Bean Soup

! pound Great Northern beans

1 or 2 ham hocks, depending on how much meat you want in your soup

1 small onion, chopped

1 large clove of garlic, minced

Seasoning salt

1 tsp. salt, you may want to add this later as sometimes the ham hocks can add more salt than you expect

8 C. water

You can make this recipe either on the stove or in the crock pot. If you are making it on the stove, soak beans overnight, drain and rinse. Bring to a boil with the 8 cups of water and all the other ingredients. Simmer for 4 to 5 hours or until the beans are done to your preference.

1 hour before serving remove the ham hocks and debone, separating the fat and skin from the meat. Some people like to add some of the fat and skin to the soup but my preference is just the meat in it. Add bite size meat pieces back to the soup pot.

Check thickness of the soup, if you prefer it thicker take a cup or so of the beans out and mash them, return them to the soup and stir.

To make this recipe in the crock pot just rinse the beans and add all the ingredients in the morning, bring to a boil on high. Once the the mixture comes to a boil turn the crock pot down to low and simmer for 6 to 8 hours. 1 hour before serving debone ham hocks as stated above.

This recipe goes great with some freshly baked homemade bread! Enjoy!