Then the broth and tomatoes are added, along with whatever else I feel has to be in my soup. I like to slowly saute these together just as if I’m making a bolognese. I always start (just about everything) with carrots, celery and onion. (See cooking tips for having broth on hand.) They flavor the broth and turn chicken and beef broth into simply meat broth. I added in a can of San Marzano tomatoes, as they are sweet and will crush right in your hands. I just happened to have some homemade chicken bone broth and some homemade beef bone broth, enough to make one nice big pot of soup. I’ve made roast beef hash and pie, but never thought of making soup. Always make enough to take advantage of its suitability for an array of leftover roast beef recipes. How I used leftovers to make this Italian Beef Macaroni Soup Chicken bone broth, beef bone broth, left over pot roast and a couple of cans of this and that, a half box of macaroni, two kale leaves. This is one of those soups that was made with left overs. Many great recipes have come from wise kitchen management, but especially soups. A mother had to fill bellies with a few ingredients and boiling water became her friend. Stretching food to feed the whole family is how many soups got their start. I hate to throw away something as small as a carrot stick, and I never want to take for granted the freedom I have with food. I still have a natural instinct to make good use of everything food. Maybe this is why I try to use everything and treat leftovers with respect. Fresh vegetables are too hard to get and yet we fill our trash cans and garbage disposals with food we’re tired of or forgot about. One simple loaf of bread might be a miracle for a family. We’re used to fully stocked shelves of anything we want.īut I know there are countries where people don’t have these choices and supplies are often limited.

We panic if we don’t have twenty different types of bread to choose from at all hours. This got me thinking. Every now and again, my mind wanders across the world. I found out later they moved the bread to another aisle in a remodeling process. Now that’s quite a joke to play on us, and I almost fell for it and panicked even though I wasn’t buying bread.

In preparing for this blizzard, I drove to the store last night. To my surprise, the bread shelves were completely empty. Before the snow falls, the news channels go crazy, schools are cancelled well in advance, and everyone rushes to the grocery store for fear of starving. We celebrate the novelty, at least for a day or two. We don’t handle snow well, and everything shuts down, even at only 4 inches of snow. No matter how Nashville prepares for a snow storm, we are elated and deflated at the same time. We are getting hit with a major snow storm.

Tomato beef macaroni soup