Comments on: Dinner With My Family #21: Stone Soup

By: maggie

maggie — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 20:02:36 +0000

I keep all dabs and left over portions of veggies and meat in the freezer in a big container. When it is full, some ground beef and a can of tomatoes and we have “Hamburger soup.” My family likes the medium shell noodles added because when the kids were little, they liked the squirt of the soup when they bit into the noodles. Now, with just my husband and me home, I added broken up pieces of spaghetti or macaroni noodles which we like. Stone soup no matter what is in it is great – especially on cold winter days. With the left overs, you have all the seasonings and need little extra.

By: Emma

Emma — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 14:16:47 +0000

Yum! I make this ‘recipe’ pretty often, and I always thought of it as ‘back-of-the-fridge stew.’ I think I’ll start calling it stone soup instead – much better sounding!

By: Tanya

Tanya — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 15:01:29 +0000

What a great idea, especially for camping! It inspires me to want to go home and make soup. I’ve got some homemade taco rice mix that would make a terrific base ingredient for a tasty soup.

By: Mike

Mike — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 05:10:04 +0000

Somehow I get the feeling that the world has three stars in the making.

By: Annie

Annie — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 22:36:03 +0000

Trent,
This was a great article. Now i know what i am going to do next time i go camping with my sister and her boyfriend. I think this is my favorite meal post that you have done.
kudos for the idea……..great work.

By: Diana Freeman

Diana Freeman — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 17:11:37 +0000

Dear Trent:

Your recipe for “Stone Soup” sounds wonderful to me, and I think the ‘tomatoes’ add the perfect flavor, plus tomatoes are rich in vitamins A and C, and contain fiber too. Tomatoes are low in fat, sodium, and contain potassium and lycopene, an antioxident which is in the red color of the tomato.

I use tomatoes in most soups, salads, with beans, rice and pasta dishes. Adding a tomato or two not only adds flavor, there are many health benefits too. Tomatoes are easy to grow here in South Texas, and the yeild during the summer months is truly a blessing to my table.

I hope your children grow to love tomatoes because they are so good for them. I would add tomatoes to your pot of “Stone Soup.”

God bless,
Diana Freeman

By: lynne powell

lynne powell — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 15:23:33 +0000

That is one of my favorite stories. We made stone soup at home, camping and I’ve made it in the classroom using a portable cooktop, with the students bringing in different ingredients. They had no idea why they were asked to bring these items, so it was especially fun. I have a question about the grates you are using to cook on–are they available at your campsite, or did you buy it? It looks terrific, and nothing like what I’m used to having to deal with at campgrounds.

By: kk

kk — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 09:02:31 +0000

What a fantastic memory to make with the children! And the bonus is cultivating a love for healthy homemade food. Great recipe and thank you for sharing how you and your family enjoy the meal.

By: Kathryn

Kathryn — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 04:49:44 +0000

How fun!

I’ve mentioned this story several times in relationship to other things (or sometimes “The House that Jack Built.” It is always amazing to me how many people have never heard of these stories.
Glad you had fun with it. :)

By: Michele

Michele — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 23:29:17 +0000

I made stone soup with my kids about once a week when they were growing up! We all loved the story, and I let the boys pick from the pantry, fridge, freezer and garden to make their own creations. We put cleaned river rocks in an enamel lined cast iron dutch oven on the stove, and by the time daddy got home, we had a delicious dinner!
Thanks for a great memory, Trent!

By: Becky

Becky — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 20:41:32 +0000

How funny, I just made stone soup today for lunch. Tomorrow is grocery shopping day, so I cleared out the fridge and added a few things from the pantry. I offer my ingredients to provide an idea of how wacky you can get with ingredients and still turn out a yummy soup.

1/5 onion
a spoonful of tomato paste
1/4 a yellow bell pepper

Above ingredients sauteed in some olive oil before adding:

a reconstituted dried mushroom and its reconstitution broth
a couple cups of lentil cooking broth saved from when I made lentil salad earlier in the week
a few tablespoons of dried arame (a sea vegetable)
two chopped sundried tomatoes
a couple tablespoons of leftover brown rice
a couple tablespoons of leftover cooked kidney beans
a bit of crushed red chile pepper
a tablespoon of chopped carrot leaves
a handful of chopped fresh spinach leaves

When I was ready to serve, I added some chopped basil and scallions from the garden.

This made a delicious and filling meal for one person with a few leftover home-made tortillas.

It may seem weird to save a few tablespoons of random ingredients and partial vegetables like this, but I find I use them all the time for salads, tortilla fillings, scrambled eggs, and so forth. It keeps my home-cooked meals more interesting and healthier. This approach may work less well with a larger family, but it can be hard as a single person not to waste food while eating a varied diet unless you have strategies for using this kind of stuff.

Now my leftovers containers are empty and my fridge is cleared for tomorrow’s groceries!