Vegetable Soup: Beautiful Medley of Veggies

 

As the gardening season winds up and your canning jars fill up, here's a recipe that uses up lots of your random harvests.  I love this because sometimes you get green beans at the end of the season but not enough to can a whole batch of beans so what better way to use up veggies than in a delicious vegetable soup.

This is a wonderfully flavored soup that can be spiced up either before canning or when you prepare it.  In the winter when you open a can you can add left over chicken or turkey, potatoes, peppers, jalapeños, or a pasta.  

All these vegetables are low acid so this recipe MUST be pressure canned.  I highly recommend you read and follow the instructions on your pressure canner if you are not familiar with pressure canning.

3 cups chicken broth

3 cups chopped plum tomatoes (like Roma)

2 cups peel potatoes or parsnips (I don't like canned potatoes so I leave this out.  I prefer to add fresh potatoes when I prepare the soup)

2 cups sliced peeled carrots

1 1/2 cup corn (fresh whole kernel corn cut off the cob)

2 cups celery chopped

1 cup 1" long sliced green beans

3/4 cup coarsely chopped onions

2 TBS minced fresh Italian parsley

1 tsp minced fresh thyme leaves

1 large garlic clove minced

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp salt

Amounts of veggies do not need to be exact so use what you have available and add more or less of what you like.  Have extra chicken broth heated in case you need more liquid when filling the jars.  The processing time is sufficient for the vegetables listed.

Optional:  You can add coarsely chopped red, yellow or green bell peppers or a couple finely chopped jalapeño chile peppers for more spice.  

Combine all the ingredients in a large stock pot.  This makes about 6 pints or 3 quart jars.  You can easily double the recipe.  Bring ingredients to a boil, reduce the heat and let it simmer for about 5 minutes.

Ladle the hot soup into hot jar, leaving a 1 inch head space.  Don't over pack when filling jars vegetables expand when cooked. Remove any trapped air bubbles and add more broth if necessary.  Wipe the jar rims and threads with a damp cloth.  Apply hot lids.

Processing:

 Pint jars for 60 minutes

Quart jars for 75 minutes

11 pounds of pressure in a dial gauge pressure canner or

10 pounds pressure in a weighted-gauge pressure canner.