Welcome Fall and Comfort Food

My favorite time of the year is here, I love fall.  One thing I do love about Utah is getting to see the changing colors of the leaves and up on the mountain I get to see some stunning colors.  I will be sharing photos very soon.

My other fall favorites are football, cool crisp air, snuggling up in flannels and comfort food. Even though we have a few hot days left I'm looking ahead and have noticed we have temperature that will be hitting freezing.  This coming weekend it will be time for me to bring in my 3 dwarf fruit trees and my herbs so I do not loose them to the cold. I keep them in the dining room so they will still get some sun in the afternoon throughout the winter.

In honor of fall I made a comfort food favorite Vegetable Beef Soup. I decided to change things up and roast the vegetables instead of cooking them in the soup.  I still need carrots, celery and onions to flavor my soup base so some of the vegetables went into the soup at the beginning and the roasted vegetables went into the soup at the end. I love a lot of vegetables in my soup and I piled them in. I was very pleased with the end result.

Roasted Vegetable Beef Soup

Soup Base

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 large carrot, diced small
1 small onion, diced small
4 stalks celery with leaves, sliced 1/2 inch thick
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoons black pepper
2 sprigs fresh thyme
3 bay leaves
1 1/2 pounds beef stew meat, cut into bite size pieces
1/4 all purpose flour
1 teaspoons seasoning salt
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoons black pepper
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
10 cups water (or beef broth)
11 teaspoons Beef - Better Than Bouillon (omit if using beef broth)
2 tablespoons tomato paste

Roasted Vegetables

5 medium red potatoes, cut into bite size pieces
4 carrots, cut into bite size pieces
1 1/2 yellow onion, cut into bite size pieces
12 small to medium cremini mushrooms, cut in half or quarter depending on size
extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, minced, divided
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh thyme, minced divided
2 large cloves garlic, minced divided
pinch salt and pepper

Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees. In a large dutch oven heat olive oil on medium heat. Add garlic and stir for 1 minute. Add diced carrots, onions, celery, salt, pepper, thyme and bay leaves. Sauté for 5 to 8 minutes. In a small bowl combine flour, salt, pepper, seasoning salt and paprika. Sprinkle flour mixture over beef pieces making sure all of beef is covered. Push vegetables over to one side and add the beef in a single layer as best as it will fit, cook on one side for 3 minutes, flip over and cook for another 3 minutes.  Stir beef and vegetables together for 5 minutes, add water and Better Than Bouillon, stir and bring to a boil. Once the soup has come to a boil, stir in tomato paste, put the lid on and place flame on low, let it go for 45 minutes.

Line two baking sheets with foil (for easy clean up). On one tray add the carrots and potatoes and on the other tray add the onions and mushrooms.  Drizzle lightly with olive oil and sprinkles with the minced rosemary, thyme, garlic, and a small amount of salt and pepper.  Toss on baking sheets and roast for 20 to 25 minutes until vegetables are tender and starting to brown/crisp. (every 10 minutes give the vegetables a turn).  When the soup has 20 minutes left add the roasted vegetables to the soup.  Taste and adjust salt and pepper if needed.