Because of johnp, I decided to make beef veggie soup

Thanks, johnp   Even tho it isn't snowing (yet), suddenly I was in the mood to make soup.

My housemate saw the pot with the beef cooking and decided to "take over".  This morning she was talking about going to the grocery to pick up some veggies.  She listed what she was going to get and I kept telling her "we have that, don't buy more".  When she got to carrots, I said "I grew some last summer and they are good", then she mentioned tomatoes and I was able to say "I canned lots".

I love when I don't have to buy stuff that the garden produces.  Now I wonder if I can grow some potatoes and celery next summer??  Celery grew well in Riner, but I've never tried it here - an experiment!!!  MM should make a big difference.

Plantoid says the three veggies to use for stock are onions, celery and carrots.
Looks like onions would be good for you to try.

I know how you feel when you can say "I've got that". It seems you need to educate your housemate as to what you have stored.

Thanks, it turned out well but I did not put in any salt as I thought when I use it the soup or whatever will be salted and I didn't want a double dose. The vegs I used are onions,leeks, celery, turnips and mushrooms. It made 2 gallons and I had to leave and left my wife to put it in bags. Not to happy to say the least!!

Forgot that I also used carrots in the beef stock.

Judy ,
Try and use the "   Stumplings " ( A Plantoid word  ) from a hand of celery to get free celery fairly quickly .
 
Simply cut the hand of celery about 1 & 1/2 inches from the bottom , use the top stuff for what ever your fresh celery needs are .
Put the stump in a shallow bowl with 1/2 to 3/4 2 of water in it and leave in a warm light place .. not on a too hot a window cill .
Keep the water level adjusted correctly and change the water after five days to stop it causing rot . Within about 10 days it should have developed micro roots.

Simply plant these rooted " Stumplings " in the beds , level with the MM and water them in  . Kept watered well , they will eventually grow into full celery's but they can be quite bitter .  So are not the nicest thing in fresh salads stuff but for cooking & drying the leaves for  herb use they are invaluable. 

I had about 14 last year , when there was a lot of greenery on them I cut it trimmed things down to just leaves and dried for 6 days on a tray in the dark warm airing cupboard turning the leaves dailly .....leaving the roots in the beds to produce more stalk & leaves .
 

This afternoon I  was making 10 pounds of thick Lincolnshire style breakfast sausages and wanted some dried celery leaves for flavouring. .. 3 ounces of home grown dried  ..no problem .

Thanks, Dave - that is a great idea and I want to try your stumplings - maybe a little early for the garden but maybe a kitchen window will work until it warms up.

Some of the online video clips show the " Stumplings "  being grown on in coffee cans with a few drain holes punched in the bases  ..as you say , "  waiting for planting out when the frost are past ".

Figured out what we are going to use some of the beef stock for. We are trying our hand at a Pho Bowl. Don't quite have all the ingredients (fresh red peppers, sprouts) but I found canned sprouts and fresh serrano's so we will see.

That sounds a nice gentle but spicy soup dish ..
I had to Google " Pho soup"  though to find a sensible sounding recipe ,  I've printed it off.

Now I've read it through a couple of times I hope to be making some next month when I get my big bag of bones from the butchers.

OK, I put on the stock, added the star anise, ginger, cinnamon and the whole peppercorns and the taste is incredible. Will not add the fish sauce until the end but that should be the salt. I have some leftover med. rare tri-tip that I smoked last weekend for the beef. We are cooking (warming) the funny looking noodles that we have never done. We will add the peppers, noodles, cilantro and the canned sprouts last. Down the unknown road .

Well bag of bones time arrived,  so with nearly six pounds of beef leg bone cut into 4 " long lengths I followed the recipe at :-   inspiredtaste.net.  for their Vietnamese Pho soup.

 I've never de-scummed the bones before nor dried them as the suggest ..what a difference it made to the end stock.

 The only thing I could not find was their yellow rock sugar  ingredient . So I used a heaped table spoon of white granulated sugar and two heaped table spoons of light brown sugar. 

 I thought that their 1 & 1/2 table spoons of salt was a bit heavy but decided that as a first attempt i'd follow the recipe the letter , I'm  glad I did. 
To save time I pressure cooked it all for 45 min in my presure canner at 15 psi . Total time to prepare the recipe was now just over 1hr 25 min from start to finish, instrad of over three hours of being in the kitchen .

 The initial stock tasted evil , sweet , bland and too salty by far  , plus the kitchen stank of fish sauce fumes & spices despite the hob extractor fan  being on at full bore .

 With a heavy heart I  built the first soup bowl with fresh boiled noodles , the veg.. I used a sweet red pepper instead of a red chili pepper as I'm not a lover of things that burn my mouth,nose and lips in the name of food , bean sprouts etc as per the exact recipe  and about an ounce of the super thin sliced beef steak. Poured over some boiling stock to 3/4 fill the bowl , carefully used chop sticks to stir up the noodles ,beef & veg already in the bowl to get it cooking .

Covered the bowl with a plate for 2 min to let the heat soften the veg and cook the beef.

 
Holly , a fussy eater at the best of times cleared her bowl well before me .
 
I had mine with a half teaspoon of sweet chili sauce on mine  I'm still drooling at the thought s of it all two hours later .

 Alison does not know what's for tea tonight as she is at night school learning sign language. I think she will be pleasantly surprised with it

 Thanks for the idea John .
 
Later when the stock is cold & I've fully skimmed off any remaining coagulated beef fat , I'll be pressure canning the remaining Thai soup stock in my Weck jars save for putting a pint aside in the fridge , it's too good to freeze & have to wait for it to thaw. 
Guess what we'll be having for lunch tomorrow ?