Steak Soup

When I have leftovers, I will peruse various recipe sites and look for ideas to liven them up and make them tasty.  Last week, I had some leftover cooked beef, from a marinated London broil.  While the meat was flavorful and still rare, it was also a tad chewy, limiting the ideas for leftovers.  When I saw a recipe for steak soup from Food Network’s Sunny Anderson, I thought that a version of this would work well for leftover London broil.  I liked Sunny’s use of mushrooms and spinach, and added a couple of my own touches and spices.  This will work well with leftover steak (although I rarely have leftovers), pot roast, or beef roast. I used homemade pork bone stock, but if you are using boxed stock, I recommend a low sodium version.

Steak Soup

1 lb. leftover beef, cut into very small cubes
8 oz. mushrooms, cleaned and sliced thin
2 slices bacon, cut into small bits
1 small onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 can 16 oz. diced tomatoes, I used fire roasted
1 cup leftover mashed butternut squash (optional)
1 medium zucchini, cut into small cubes
3-4 cups beef stock
1/2 package baby spinach (about 5 oz.)
1/2 t each thyme, cumin, chipotle chili powder

In a large soup pot, brown the bacon to render bacon fat, add onion, garlic, carrot, celery, and mushrooms, saute until onion is translucent, about 8 minutes. Add dry spices and fry to release the spice oils for about 1 minute.  Add tomatoes, stock, mashed butternut squash, if using, and zucchini. Raise heat and bring up to a boil.  Cover, lower heat to a simmer and simmer for 10 minutes.  After soup is simmering, uncover, raise heat and stir in cooked beef cubes and spinach.  Stir until all soup ingredients are heated through and spinach has wilted down, about 2-3 minutes.  Adjust seasonings to taste and serve.

shared at $5 Dinners, Pennywise Platter, Grocery Cart Challenge, Ultimate Recipe Swap, and Tempt My Tummy Tuesday