Garden Bounty Soup

June 24, 2024

I could just about pinch myself (or rather the mosquitos have done that for me) because this was our first year to grow a vegetable garden! For years I dreamed about growing some vegetables, but we lacked the proper space to garden.

In hot and sunny South Carolina, growing new plants in the hard clay is quite difficult, especially without a significant topsoil layer. So a southern gardener must either plow a garden and add nutritious soil or build raised beds. While visions of tractors dance in my husband’s head, we just don’t need a tractor on this current property, nor is it a wise investment at this point.  

Raised beds are the perfect solution for our family. I realize that for the serious homestead gardener, intent on growing all her own food for the year (I feel tired just typing that), raised beds are too expensive. But raised beds are manageable for us at this stage of life and property.

My kind husband worked for several consecutive Saturdays this spring, building me a total of 11 raised beds. After he built the initial three, with childish glee, I begged him to build more. He pretended to sigh and huff while kindly building me more, joking about when he could finally stop.

The serious gardener could nit pick our garden to shreds, but I’m so pleased with our garden —overabundant growth, weeds, unexpected plants, and all! My children run joyfully amongst the raised beds, inspecting the growth of their personal gardens. In the cool(er) evening temperatures, we harvest the ready vegetables. Neighbors have stopped to comment on our garden. I am blessed.

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With all the abundant produce, I’m doing my best to cook what is fresh from the garden. Needing a quick supper before Wednesday night church, I whipped up this quick soup. Everyone in the family enjoyed it! That’s always an amazing dream come true.

Please forgive me: I am not a professional food blogger or recipe developer. I’m just a mom trying to get supper on the table. Here’s the soup I came up with and approximate amounts and directions. This soup would be so easy to tweak and customize!

Garden Bounty Soup

Ingredients

1 lb sausage

½ onion, diced

1-2 cups of carrots, chopped

4 celery sticks, sliced

2 zucchinis, chopped

Several handfuls of garden green beans, cut into half inch chunks

1 teaspoon of each: basil, oregano, parsley, thyme, onion powder

½ t. garlic powder

1 t. salt

Pepper to taste

2 heaping T of Better than Bouillon (I used beef)

8-9 cups of water

1 jar of Marinara sauce

About ½ cup of chopped pepperonis (adjust according to your level of spice)

Directions

1.       Brown sausage and onion together in a large stockpot. I did not drain the grease since the sausage was lean, but you could certainly drain excess grease.

2.       Add the carrots, celery, zucchinis, and green beans and cook for several minutes to soften the veggies.

3.       Add all the remaining ingredients and simmer on the stove for about an hour. Enjoy!

Some additional ideas

1.       You could add a starch like rice or pasta to really bulk up this soup.

2.       You could switch out the water and bouillon with chicken or beef stock or bone broth. If you make this switch, you may want to add more seasonings.

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Happy gardening and happy cooking!

-Ashley

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Personal Disclosure

As the author of Ashley Qurollo Blog, all opinions are my own. Any possible applications are universal in nature, not directed at any one individual or people group. My sincere desire is to help others by sharing what I am learning. Nothing stated on this blog is ever intended to hurt others. Ashley Qurollo, owner of Ashley Qurollo Blog and Website, is not held liable in any way for any application of the ideas and thoughts stated here.