Grandma’s Quick and Easy “Pantry Soup.”

As I mentioned in last week’s post, my son Josiah and I took off last week for a quick visit with my family in Gig Harbor, Washington.  We made the visit to attend my Uncle’s funeral, so we knew the visit would be a combination of happy and sad.  The weather was supposed to be cold and rainy, but we were pleasantly surprised by quite a bit of sun.   If you’ve been to Gig Harbor then you know that it’s hard to beat the beauty there on a clear day.  Here’s the view from my parents’ front porch:

As usual, Mom and I exchanged a bunch of text messages before we travelled, and also as usual, she included the question: “So what do you guys want to eat while you are here?”

Which is just one of a million reasons to love my mom.

And look at the view from her kitchen.  A chunk of my heart lives right exactly there.

Anticipating freezing my buns off while also thinking of comfort food, I suggested perhaps soup would be good.  Then, knowing how busy the week would be I suggested a recipe that was first passed down from my mom’s Aunt, which we’ve finally decided to call: “Pantry soup.”  As  you can guess, most of the ingredients in this recipe are things you already have in the pantry.

Pantry Soup has all of the goodness of home-cooked comfort food, with the sneaky fact that it is quick and easy.

The only real “cooking” part is browning some ground beef (or turkey, which I most often use) at the beginning.  If you are in a rush or want to do something different, you can always cut up a fully cooked sausage, or use leftover meat from another meal.

My mom began by browning ground beef with some onions, celery, and peppers.  My mom cannot (read:  cannot) brown ground beef without adding onions, and oftentimes also celery, and peppers.  She’s old-fashioned like that, and I fully appreciate it.  {Don’t tell my mom, but I often just brown the meat and forget the other stuff.  Life’s busy, man. }

Once the meat is browned it’s all about opening some cans and dumping.  If you choose to add noodles, they should go in near the end with just time enough to get cooked.  (because we used gluten-free noodles, it is extra important they don’t stay in too long…GF noodles tend to turn gummy pretty quick.)

^^Hi Dad!  (He made the gluten-free cornbread to go with the soup.  He’s pretty great, that guy. ;))

^^If you close your eyes you might just smell my mom’s kitchen right about there…

My favorite thing about this soup is that you can vary it all kinds of ways depending on what cans you have on hand.  I always add beans (kidney, great northern, garbanzo…whatever I’ve got), and I love something tomato-y:  We added a can of diced tomatoes, but real tomato soup is a great addition to this soup as well.  Besides that we dumped in a can of Progresso Vegetable soup, and a can of tomato sauce.

It’s all about cleaning out the pantry.

The other thing I love is that you really don’t need to add any seasonings to this soup.  All of the canned soups provide more than enough flavor.

Top that soup with some shredded parmesan, and you’d think you just sat down at an Italian restaurant.  Or at my mom’s house (which is even better.)

**Note:  My mom added some mushrooms in there as well, which I love, though I don’t usually include them, because:  Picky kids.  Again, no rules–add what you like!

Your family is guaranteed to love this, so I hope you’ll give it a try soon.

Here’s the printable recipe: (note:  For a big group — like my own family — I double this!)

Now, who wants to sit out on that porch ^^ with me and stare out at the harbor?  (Hard to believe I’m already back in Hawaii…but the trip was truly wonderful, and I’m so thankful for the time we had there.)

With Aloha,
Monica

PS  Love soup?  One of the most loved is my Thai Peanut Chicken Coconut Soup .  If you like ginger, coconut milk, and carrots, this one if for you!  For a little more fancy style minestrone, Monica’s Mini-Meatball Minestrone is hard to beat! 🙂