Turkey Vegetable Soup

Have I mentioned before how much I love soup? I do. Have I also mentioned how much I love the Pioneer Woman? I do. She's been posting tons of soup recipes lately and I've been in my kitchen adapting her recipes to what I have. This recipe is adapted from her Hamburger Soup recipe.

The first thing I noticed when I started cooking today is that I did not have enough meat. She uses 2 1/2 lbs of ground chuck. I had 1 lb of ground turkey, so that's what I decided to go with.

I started with what was going in the pan with the ground turkey, the onion, celery, and garlic. I also laid out the carrots because I only had baby carrots and so I mimicked what 4 carrots might look like.

I got those all chopped and put them in the pot with the ground turkey. 

I used my 4 qt pot for this and everything fit. If you follow Ree's recipe though, you'll want to get a bigger pot though. 

I went ahead and got all my other veggies chopped while the meat and veggies cooked. You want to let those cook until the meat is cooked through and then drain as much fat as you can. With the ground turkey there really wasn't a lot of fat, but there was a lot of liquid, so I drained that out as much as possible. 

There were so many pretty colors in this. I've got the carrots chopped here, in addition to a red, orange, green, and yellow pepper. I added 2/3 c of frozen corn as my own design. I also used 5 small russet potatoes. Ree called for red, but I used what I had. I didn't peel them, just a chunky chop after they were brushed clean. 

You'll also use a 14 oz can of tomatoes and some tomato paste. I used diced tomatoes, Italian style. 

Once the meat is cooked and drained, start adding all the veggies. 

I strayed from the recipe on the liquid base. I used 2 c of chicken broth and 1 c of vegetable broth. 

Mix everything up and let it come to a boil. After it starts boiling, reduce the heat and let the soup simmer for 20 minutes. 

Look at all these colors! So pretty. You'll want to salt and pepper to taste, as everyone likes a different level of those things. Ree's recipe calls for dried parsley and oregano. I didn't add those because my vegetable broth has lots of spices in it. If you have time, make this vegetable broth base yourself. It's delicious and very easy. I had everything in my spice rack to make it myself.

1lb ground turkey (or more, up to you)

2 celery stalks, diced

1 yellow onion, on the large side, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

4 carrots (or about 16 baby carrots), sliced

1 red pepper, diced

1 green pepper, diced

1 orange pepper, diced

1 yellow pepper, diced

5 small russet potatoes, chopped

2/3 c frozen corn

1 14.5 oz can Italian style diced tomatoes

1 6 oz can tomato paste

1 c vegetable broth

2 c chicken broth

Brown the meat with the chopped celery, onion, and garlic. Drain as much fat as possible. Add all remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste!