by Bill Whitney

Created on: September 09, 2008   Last Updated: November 07, 2009

Winter in Colorado and a good bowl of soup just sort of go together. The farther North you go the more soup is the food of choice in the winter. Soup is something I have always sort of thought of as a comfort food. There is nothing better than a hot bowl of soup on a cold blustery night. Depending on the kind of soup, I like crackers or some good cornbread. Good chili is always good but here are a couple of my other favorite hot soups for anytime but on a cold , windy Colorado night I like either one of these homemade soups.

When we butcher beef we always make some beef soup bones and they make a delicious beef vegetable soup. Vegetable soup is just what it says and can be made with a multitude of different vegetables but to me every vegetable soup has to have potatoes, carrots and onions. What other vegetables you add is sort of up to your individual tastes and likings. When I brown the beef and bones I like to use bacon drippings if I have them available. Adds a lot of good flavor.

Bill's Beef Vegetable Soup

1 large or two smaller beef soup bones. Bacon grease to brown the beef in. Butter or oil with also work. Enough flour to cover both sides of the beef bones before browning One or two bay leaves to your taste Two to three stalks of celery chopped including the leaves. 2 tsp sea salt, 1 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper, 3-4 carrots peeled and cut in 1' pieces, 1-2 onions peeled and quartered then cut in half, 5-6 quarts of water, 1 bag of frozen okra, 1 package of frozen Lima or butter beans, 2 cups of sliced yellow squash, 3-4 cups of cut up potatoes (For a pleasant change substitute turnips or rutabagas), 2 cans of diced tomatoes, 4-5 beef bullion cubes

Dredge the bones and meat in flour and then brown on both sides in the bacon grease. Add the water, bay leaves, salt and pepper and part of the onions. Bring to a boil and let simmer till the meat comes off the bones. Remove the bones and give them to your dog. Add all the remaining ingredients and let simmer for several hours until you are ready for a big bowl of delicious soup. Maybe not the quickest over all but it sure is easy once you get it started.

Serve this as a main course with some good crusty cornbread or your favorite crackers and a good green salad.

Here is another soup that my family enjoys and it is pretty easy to make. It is especially good with a ham bone from a ham that has been smoked for 8-10 hours. You can use most any kind of beans but we usually use a combination of Great Northern

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