Nourishing Beef and Sausage Soup

We eat tons of soup! It has been so enjoyable to change all of our favorite recipes over to better fit the "Nourishing Traditions" method of cooking.

This summer we began a journey to even better eating. We always ate pretty well, or so I thought.

The main source of my inspiration was indeed "Nourishing Traditions" by Sally Fallon. Also, the Weston A. Price Foundation's website is almost inexhaustible. I highly recommend them both.

There were certain blogs/websites I found also, and Kimi's Nourishing Gourmet is one of my favorites. I have learned a lot and been inspired to try converting my own recipes. She has an amazing and very informative website, as some of you may already know!

In this recipe it is so important, I feel, to use homemade stock as the base. For years I used bullion cubes and when I found a beef base and chicken base at Sam's Club that didn't have salt as the first ingredient, I thought I was doing my family a favor! Boy was I wrong! This article about broth is my favorite "sum it all up in a nutshell" article.

Besides the homemade stock, organic, grassfed beef and well soaked beans are crucial to making this a nourishing soup.

This summer we found a wonderful local farm that sells delicious grassfed meats! There is no way we could afford to feed such a large family on one income if we did not buy our beef by the side. We have been getting a 1/4 side of beef, which usually lasts our family about three months. The price per pound is obviously more than what you would buy in the store, but once you know the difference, health wise, you cannot go back! We do our best to stretch it out and soup is a very frugal way to do it.

I usually soak my beans for two days, changing the water a couple of times. I like to soak and cook up a bunch of beans and then freeze them for a quick meal.

This is an easy to adapt recipe that we absolutely love!


Vegetable Beef and Sausage Soup

Brown the following until no longer pink:

1 lb. Hamburger (organic, grassfed)
3 Italian Sausage links (turkey sausage)
1 large Onion, chopped
5 cloves Garlic, finely chopped

Add and saute for a few minutes:

½ head cabbage, chopped

Add and simmer until almost tender :

5-6 cups Beef Broth (Homemade only!)
5-6 organic carrots, chopped
3-4 stalks organic celery, chopped

Add and cook until tender:

3-4 small zucchini, chopped
1 lb. Spinach
6 cups (ish) various soaked and cooked beans (black, pinto, kidney ect.)
Salt and pepper to taste

Serve with Homemade bread or rolls and grated Parmesan cheese.

This is part of the Nourishing Soups and Stews Carnival.