September 18, 2019

V8 Soup from Tomato Juice


Don't throw out that tomato juice! Use the juice from your strained tomatoes to make a delicious, healthy, vegetable-based V8-inspired tomato drink.

From the big batch of salsa I made last week, I had this byproduct: tomato juice. Never one to waste, we peeped around the Internet for about 2 minutes and mashed a couple recipes together to fit our needs.

Add your homemade V8 to a cold beer on a hot summer day, or just eat it like tomato soup with grilled cheese in the winter.

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Makes about 4 quarts

  • About 3.5 quarts tomato liquid, strained of skins & seeds
  • 5 small-medium beets, peeled & chunked
  • 4 large carrots, chunked
  • 1/8-1/4 red onion, diced
  • 1 cup kale (fresh or frozen)
  • 2 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 2 TB honey
  • 1 TB chipotle EVOO
  • dash lemon juice*
  • dash cinnamon*
  • dash soy sauce/liquid aminos*
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 2 cucumbers, chunked
  • 1/4 cup fresh basil
  • 1/4 cup fresh parsley
  • 1/2 cup arugula


Combine everything except the last 4 ingredients. Simmer uncovered for 35-45 minutes or until carrot & beet chunks are fork-tender.

Add remaining ingredients. Blend using immersion blender.

*These ingredients I used in lieu of Worcestershire sauce one recipe called for. The cinnamon can be pretty overpowering, so measure out 1/8 tsp first and go up from there.

NOTE: If the acidic tang leaves a bittery-hot aftertaste, add 1/2 to 1 tsp baking soda. The chemical reaction will burn off some of the acid from the tomato juice, leaving the flavor but none of the harshness.

We drank some, froze some for later and to the rest I added some chicken broth, a can of venison, a can of black beans and a can of corn to create a Frankenstein-ed up chili that was awesome with sour cream, cheese & cilantro.

Blogging this mainly to save my recipe for later. But I hope someone else can enjoy it too!



September 8, 2019

Summer Recap



Yikes! August came and went and I didn't write a single post.

Summer zipped by in a blur and now Babs is starting Kindergarten. (LBR, we were all ready for her to go back to school.) Here are some of the summer highlights:

A lot of time has been spent tending to the garden this summer. My fridge and freezer are full of kale and my squirrel room is overflowing with pickles and pickled beets. Mr. Go likes to go outside to caress his tomatoes every morning and no, that's not a euphemism.


We picked 17 pounds of blackberries that are going to get turned into prison-wine this week and we gave ourselves whiplash packing and unpacking for 5 camping trips.


In August my company flew me out to Minneapolis to film some sewing tutorial videos and I spent several weeks prepping and stressing.

A friend of ours got married, Mr. Go fished a lot and I processed a whole bunch of stuff from the garden. (Oh my god so much kale.)


I helped my mom get my grandma and grandpa moved into the assisted living facility just up the road from me.

And of course, I published a book.

Hunting season is just around the corner so we're working furiously to consume the leftover things in our freezer from last year to make room.

Then it's going to be time to get ourselves out of this frigid tundra for a winter trip. Where to? I have no idea yet, but we should probably figure it out soon. I'm gonna go do that.



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