Rochel's Zucchini Beef Soup

Last week, I went to a recipe swap party hosted by my friends, Lisa and Rochel.  It was SO much fun and such a great idea.  We were asked to bring a homemade soup along with copies of the recipe.  We got to sample all of the soups and take home with us whichever recipes we wanted to try. 

Here we are in Lisa's newly remodeled kitchen...which is,
by the way, incredibly GORGEOUS! :-)

There were at least a dozen soups to try and they were all incredible...there was a ham & split pea, a lasagna soup, a couple of delicious butternut squashes, clam chowder, minestrone, and sun dried tomato just to name a few. There was one soup that had sausage and these darling little tiny pasta stars which I loved. 

I brought a very simple, basic tortilla soup which was just broth and chicken but you could add all sorts of things like tortilla strips, cilantro, lime, bell pepper, cheese, avocado, and green onion. But my soup was, by far, not as fantastic as some of these ladies' soups!!!

The first one I wanted to try to make once I got home was Rochel's zucchini beef soup.  It is SO good and she is letting me share the recipe with you :-)


Zucchini Beef Soup at our house!



And I also made some of these to go with it.  I just sliced up a French baguette, added a little I Can't Believe It's Not Butter and parmesan cheese then put it in the oven at 400 degrees for about 7 minutes.

Is there a name for these?  I called them "crusties", but Mike says that sounds really unappetizing. 
I guess he's thinking of eye crusties!

Oh!  And I also won a new ladle at the party.  The hostesses wrapped up a few spices and poked holes at the top and you had to guess what they were just by smelling them.  I only knew 2 of them, but I tied for second place.  Yay!

Rochel's Zucchini Beef Soup

1 pound ground beef
4 celery ribs
3/4 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped green pepper
2 28 oz. cans diced tomatoes (un-drained)
6 medium zucchini (cubed)
4 cups water
3 tsp. Italian seasoning
2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. beef boullion granules
1 tsp. sugar
pepper to taste
shredded Parmesan cheese (garnish)

In a large pot cook beef, celery, onion, and green pepper over medium heat until vegetables are tender. Drain fat from meat and vegetable mixture. Stir in tomatoes, zucchini, water, Italian seasoning, salt, boullion, sugar and pepper.  Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 20-25 minutes longer, or until zucchini is tender.

Garnish with Parmesan cheese! Enjoy!

P.S. In true "Robin" fashion I just realized as I was typing up the recipe that I completely forgot and overlooked the celery when I made it at home.  Geez!  Oh well, it was still really good!!! :-)