Making Campbell's Sirloin Burger w/Country Vegetables Soup?

myprana

I've been struggling for a while to get my kids to eat vegetables. Every week I buy something new, hoping they'll like the vegetables in it. I found success with the Campbell's Sirloin Burger with Country Vegetables soup and would like to make it homemade instead of getting it from a can. I thought it would be a pretty easy thing to do, however the ingredient list is longer than I thought it would be and contains stuff I didn't even suspect was in it. So not sure how much to add in of these odd ingredients.

Any advice for trying to do this soup homemade? Anyone like to share a soup they make that's similar to this Campbell's soup?

Here's the ingredient list. Any suggestions are appreciated!

Beef Stock, Potatoes, Seasoned Beef Sirloin Burgers with Onions (Sirloin Beef, Reconstituted Onions, Potato Extract, Potassium Chloride, Salt, Flavoring), Carrots, Water, Tomato Puree (Water, Tomato Paste), Green Beans, Peas, Contains Less than 2% of: Wheat Flour, Modified Food Starch, Salt, Yeast Extract, Caramel Color, Natural Flavoring (Milk), Chicken Fat, Chicken Flavor, Spice, Butter (Cream [Milk]).

lynn_glenmont

Beef Stock, Potatoes, Seasoned Beef Sirloin Burgers with Onions (Sirloin Beef, Reconstituted Onions, Potato Extract, Potassium Chloride, Salt, Flavoring), Carrots, Water, Tomato Puree (Water, Tomato Paste), Green Beans, Peas, Contains Less than 2% of: Wheat Flour, Modified Food Starch, Salt, Yeast Extract, Caramel Color, Natural Flavoring (Milk), Chicken Fat, Chicken Flavor, Spice, Butter (Cream [Milk]).

If by "odd" ingredients you mean potato extract, potassium chloride, flavoring, wheat flour, modified food starch, yeast extract, caramel color, natural flavoring (milk), and "spice" (presumably not the kind from "Dune" ), I wouldn't worry about them in trying to duplicate them in home cooking. Oh, and use fresh onions, not reconstituted ones.

Just dust your cut-up sirloin with flour, salt and pepper and brown in fat of your choice (chicken fat if you can get it would likely do the best job of replicating the flavor of the canned soup) in a large pot (I would use a Dutch oven - i.e., a large heavy-weight pot suitable for both stove-top and in-oven use). Remove meat. (Some recipes will suggest draining on paper towels, but I say "why?" Just put the meat in a bowl, and refrigerate if you're a slow cook and you haven't prepped all of your veggies before starting, but if you're experienced and everything is ready to go, the meat can just sit on the counter for the 20 minutes it will be before it goes back in the pot).
Add more fat if needed. Saute chopped onions and carrots. Add tomato paste (just a bit - maybe a teaspoon for every four servings of soup in your batch) and cook briefly (don't burn, but if you can get a little bit of caramelization going it will boost the flavor).
Deglaze with a little water, juice from canned tomatoes, or stock/broth (I would use a mix of beef and chicken stock, based on this ingredient list, preferably homemade, but a low-sodium commercial product will do as well--no, I'm not demonizing sodium, but the conventional commercial products generally taste of nothing but salt) (deglaze = add liquid and scrape the yummy cooked on bits off the pan).
Add more stock/broth (I'm not giving amounts here because I don't know how big a batch you want to make, or how thick with meat and veg you want your soup to be). Heat to a very low simmer.
Add potatoes, green beans (if using raw, including frozen), and peas (if using raw, including frozen). Cook for five to 10 minutes until potatoes and beans are just tender (depends on the size of pieces).
Return meat to soup along with any juices or fat in the bowl it was resting in.
Add canned tomatoes (cut up the tomatoes if they're whole or in large pieces) with juice (I'd say one 14-15 oz. can for 4-8 servings of soup; you could add more for a larger batch), along with peas and green beans if using cooked (including canned).
Simmer for at least 10 minutes. Taste. Adjust salt and pepper. It will generally taste better the next day, or if you let it simmer lightly for a half hour or so more before serving, but you can eat it now.

One more thought on amounts: I'd start with 1 or 2 ounces of sirloin per serving and adjust in subsequent batches after you see whether that's an amount you would like (I would bet the canned stuff is about 1 ounce per serving, but if I were making it homemade I'd go with 2 ounces).

Edited to fix typos.