Whole 30 Day 7...and the best Pot Roast Soup you've ever had

Breakfast:
smoothie (same as the smoothie from Day 3)

Lunch:
small bowl of leftovers from last night's dinner

Dinner:
Out.Of.This.World Pot Roast Soup

 ☛Incredible, Out-of-this-World Pot Roast Soup

disclaimer: i may just be theee worst food blogger ever.  in fact, i am in NO way an actual food blogger.  furthermore, i canNOT take a decent photo of food to save my life.  can. not.

that said, this recipe is begging to be shared with you all.  and therein lies the other dilemma.  i may just be the worst recipe share-er of all time.  i am a throw in some of this, throw in some of that, cook it a bit, taste it, a dash of this'll do, a sprinkle of that'll work, taste it again, throw some salt over my left shoulder...and viola! it's perfect!

i promise, i'll do my best to share this recipe, exactly as i made it.  but keep in mind, it is widely open for interpretation and fiddling and general tweaking here and there.

i doubt you can mess it up.  it is just. that. good.

(all ingredients used were Whole 30 compliant.  check labels of your items, as some ingredients may vary by brand.)

4-5 pounds roast--i used 4 pounds beef arm roast and 1 pound lamb stew meat, because that's what i had on hand.  any type of roast/stew meat would do, even pork

1 large onion, chopped

1-2 Tbsp. onion powder

1-2 Tbsp. dried minced onion

fresh-ground black pepper

three strips uncured bacon

place meat in deep roasting dish (I used a deep-dish, glass, oval 9x13).  sprinkle with onion powder and dried minced onion (i like a lot of onion, so i used the maximum amount, possibly more).  grind fresh black pepper on top, to taste (again, I like a lot).  toss chopped onion over meat and lay three strips bacon over all.  bake covered at 325° for approximately 3 hours (until meat is tender and pulls apart easily).

remove from oven and set aside to cool a bit.  in the meantime, in a large soup pot (i used my huge enamel-coated cast iron Dutch oven) combine:

4 medium turnips, peeled and cubed

2 orange bell peppers (any color would work, the orange were on sale at the grocery)

5 whole carrots (i wash mine, but i never peel them. yah, i'm daring like that)

1 entire celery heart, leaves and all (mom said all the flavor is in the leaves)

1/3-1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped

5 bay leaves

hefty scoop minced garlic

3 32oz. containers beef stock (i used Harmony Farms beef stock...and danggggit all if I didn't just realize that there are two no-no ingredients in the "less than 1%" list.  oh, well.  hopefully, you're better about all that than i am.)

salt, pepper, seasonings to taste (i used lots of black pepper and a healthy sprinkling of W30 compliant Cajun seasoning.  oh, and a douse of balsamic vinegar.  because someone told me it helps add "depth" of flavor.  and it worked.  so i did it.)

by now your meat should be cool enough to handle.  cut it up, discarding large pieces of fat.  i took some of the hot broth out of the Dutch oven and cleaned out the bottom of the roasting pan...i wanted all that flavorful goodness in my soup.  add the meat (including the bacon) to the soup as you cut it.

bring all to a boil and then reduce heat and cook low and slow for a couple of hours (i actually cooked mine for 3-4 hours).

serve it up and enjoy it hot.  and try to keep yourself from tipping the bowl up to drain every last delicious drop into your mouth.