Great Last Minute Dinner Idea
Tomato Vegetable Soup
If you have a prep day, or use store bought marinara, this is a super easy one to make and you can easily make two batches, one with meat and one without, if, like me you live in a house with both carnivores and omnivores! I'm finding that keeping healthy food in the house really gives us a lot of options. This was inspired by the Vegetable Beef Soup that I LOVE from Souper Salad. It was really close, although mine was a little spicier, which, of course, my guys loved!
It was SO delicious that my guys ate more as a midnight snack and ate ALMOST the whole pan! Holy beans! That was a LOT of soup.
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| I realized in looking at this photo that I've had this Club Aluminum stock pot from my mother for well over 12 years. And she had it before that. I think I need to get a set of these. They last for ever! |
Clean out those freezers and get all the diced up frozen veggies you want. I used
1/2 large bag of frozen vegetables
small bag of yellow bell pepper
1/2 large onion, diced
some frozen cooked ground turkey or cooked flank steak
*Vegetarians can add some cooked lentils or quinoa for extra protein.
2-3 cups of your marinara sauce
2-3 cups of beef or vegetable broth
$$$ Budget Friendly:
I took the last bit today and added some more marinara and a box of Whole Wheat Penne Pasta to stretch it out. I'm all about saving money when I can and stretching yummy food! We're planning to keep our grocery bill under $800.00 this month (that's $400 down from last month!), and its actually been really easy, since we had to spend a lot last month on things like spices that we didn't have and won't need to buy again for a long time. I'm actually glad that we bought them, though, because they really are yummy, and they are lasting a LOT longer than the old cheap standbys that I used to buy!
Variations for leftovers and budget conscious people... just add some pasta! My kids ate theirs with mini grilled cheese sandwiches made from our '5 Minutes a Day' bread.
