Mom'S Vegetable Soup With Chicken Or Beef(German Gemuse Suppe) - cooking recipe

Ingredients

1 round beef bones (soup bone) or 1 whole chicken
8 cups water
1 bay leaf
1 onion, cut into 1/2-inch chunks
3 sprigs fresh parsley
4 -5 medium carrots, sliced
1 leek, chopped (white and light-green parts only)
2 -3 stalks celery, sliced (with leaves)
1 -2 chicken bouillon cube
ground black pepper (do not add any salt)
3 -4 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped into 1-inch chunks
1 medium cauliflower, broken into rosettes
1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped

Preparation

To an 8 quart stock pot, add beef bone or chicken, water, bay leaf, onion chunks, and sprigs of parsley. Bring to a boil; cover, then simmer about 1 to 1 1/2 hours until beef or chicken is almost done.
Remove meat bone or chicken to a plate and let cool enough to handle. Strip meat from the bones into chunks (discard bones), and set aside.
Meanwhile add sliced carrots, leek, chopped celery with leaves, chicken bouillon cubes and pepper (do not add salt). Bring to a boil; cover and simmer 5 to 10 minutes.
Add the potatoes and the chunks of meat from the cooled soupbone or the chicken; cover and simmer about 35 minutes longer.
Add cauliflower rosettes, cover, and simmer for 10 minutes. Add chopped fresh parsley and remove from heat.
Serve steaming hot with a crusty French bread or rolls and butter.
Makes good leftovers (soup is great on day 1, but tastes even better on days 2-3), and freezes/reheats well.
VARIATIONS: May add about 6 oz. frozen peas at same time as cauliflower (increase cooking time by about 5 minutes to compensate for the cold peas). I also sometimes add a cup or two of fresh sliced zucchini and/or green beans a few minutes after adding the cauliflower. Also good with sliced hot dogs or kielbasa sausage added during the last 5 minutes or so of cooking time (enough time to heat through).