A Better Bag of Groceries

Venus Soup

Thursday, December 3, 2009 at 06:57 AM

Can you believe that Christmas Eve is only 3 weeks from today?  Aaaahhh!  I talk to a lot of moms and it seems that most are at a breaking point right now.  Not only is there the incredible holiday to-do list, but it’s teacher conference time, winter sports are starting, and don’t even get me started about Christmas Pageant rehearsals.  Before I became a mom, I always thought to myself, “What’s the big deal?  It’s a little Parent-Teacher conference or a basketball practice?!”  Well, now I know that it’s enough to turn our little household into a tailspin.

It’s during these busy times that I have to remember my strategies for holiday sanity.  Last night, I went to Dream Dinners and picked up my already-made-for-me dinners.  The staff at Dream Dinners assembles them for customers at no extra charge during December.  Isn’t that the best Christmas gift?  So from now until December 26th, it’s all Dream Dinners or Soup or Crockpot Meals.  Last night, we had a long-time family favorite:  Venus Soup.

Now, you may think that this soup is named after one of the 8 planets.  Nope.  It actually gets it name from the famous Venus de Milo restaurant in Seekonk, Massachusetts.  The Venus de Milo is a big wedding factory kind of a place.  Think Adam Sandler and The Wedding Singer.  The legend in my family is that my grandmother stole the recipe from the Venus de Milo.  My grandmother is a very honest woman, so I doubt that she really “stole” it, but you never know.  What I do know is that women in my family have relied on this recipe for years, probably because it is so easy and economical to make and you can get a couple of meals out of it.

Grandma’s original recipe calls for ground beef (NuVal score of 26 for 80% lean) but I use ground turkey (NuVal score of 33). 

1 onion, chopped

1 package (1 1/4 lbs) ground turkey

1 can dark red kidney beans

1 can Veg-All

2 cans stewed tomatoes

4 cans water

3 or 4 beef bouillon cubes (or use beef broth)

¾ box ditalini cooked to package directions

In a large soup pot, brown onion and ground turkey over medium-high heat.  Break up the ground turkey as finely as you can.  Once the turkey is browned, strain the fat.  Add kidney beans, Veg-All, stewed tomatoes, water and bouillon cubes.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer about 1 hour.  You can simmer it for hours if you’d like.  Serve with cooked ditalini.  Note:  Do not cook the soup with the ditalini in it or you will end up with mush. 

As I learn more about NuVal, I continue to trade up my ingredients for better NuVal scores.

For example, I used Del Monte No Salt Added Stewed Tomatoes which have a NuVal score of 47.  Del Monte’s regular stewed tomatoes only score a 34.  On my next trip to Price Chopper, I need to grab some cans of the Price Chopper No Salt Added Stewed Tomatoes.  They get a 73!

Since I was shopping at my local Stop & Shop, where they do not have NuVal scores on shelf, I had to rely on my ever-failing memory for scores when choosing my ingredients.  The Progresso regular kidney beans looked like a good choice with a score of 49.  Actually, I would have done better with:

• Goya Kidney Beans: 64
• Full Circle Dark Red Organic Kidney Beans: 82
• Food Club Light Red Kidney Beans: 93

The Veg-All only scores a 43 but it is the one ingredient I can’t change.  Veg-All is a unique canned mixed vegetable that has pieces of potato in it.  Believe me, I’ve tried switching to higher scoring canned mixed vegetables here and it just doesn’t work for me.

The Barilla Ditalini gets an admirable pasta score of a 61.  Too bad they don’t make a Barilla Plus version of that small tubular cut!  You could use Barilla Plus Elbows for an amazing NuVal score of 91.

As for the bouillon that I used, we have not yet scored it.  NuVal is scoring all products:  the good, the bad, and the ugly and this takes time.

Venus Soup, however, does not take time.  It is my go-to recipe every December because it takes me all of 10 minutes to prepare and you can simmer it for 1 hour or even all day in a slow cooker.  It’s sanity preservation – in a soup pot!

Posted by: Melissa 12 comments

Posted in: Soup