Dump Soup

My mom, Amanda's "memaw" discovered this recipe years ago. I'm not sure where she found it, some church covered dish dinner most likely. She raved about how easy it was and how dad was actually willing to eat it. I fell in love with it because it is so easy and it is made with ingredients I almost always have on hand. Mom insist it must be made with Campbell's minestrone and no other brand will do.

Last week, our first cold snap caught me by surprise. September? When did that happen? Well, fall had arrived and I found myself scrounging through the pantry looking for warming comfort food. Dump Soup it was. Today, we finished it off. The cold spell didn't even last as long as the leftovers did. Tomorrow is October? You've got to be kidding me.

Dump Soup

Ingredients:

1 lb ground meat

1 large onion chopped

3 cloves of garlic minced

4 or 5 stems of celery diced

2 cans Campbell's minestrone soup

2 cans pinto beans

1 can ranch style beans

1 can Rotel tomatoes

1 can diced tomatoes (I used fire roasted!)

salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Brown ground meat with onion, garlic and celery. Dump in other ingredients. Add salt and pepper.

Add 2 soup cans of water. Simmer for 30 minutes or so to let the flavors have time to meld. Taste and adjust seasonings. Serve with crusty garlic bread. (Although it is great with corn bread too.)

Even better the next day.

Additional Notes:

For a richer flavor, use beef broth instead of water. The leftovers will thicken; just add water to desired consistency.

If you want to extend it - dump in more cans. Sometimes I add a can of whole kernal corn or a can of green beans. (In the above photo I had added half a can of corn and half a can of black beans left over from a taco salad the previous day.)

My Mom likes it with 2 cans of ranch style beans and some people prefer the spicy Rotel.

You can add tobasco at the table or stir in some red pepper flakes.

Chris adds japalenos. Modifications are limitless.

As written above it is approximately 130 calories per one cup serving. Change things and you'd have to recalculate.

-Karen