Vegetable Beef Soup - Basic Recipe

Impera_Magna's Note:

My mother never made soup from scratch so I never learned how. After trying a number of soup recipes from Zaar, I came up with this recipe as a guideline for a basic veggie beef soup. I often throw in whatever veggies I have around so the soup is never exactly the same two times running; however, soup-making isn't an exact science as is baking. I'm posting the recipe so that I can give it out easily; evidently, folks seem to really like it!

• Total Time: 1 hrs 5 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 45 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 8

• 1 lb ground round
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 1 cup chopped carrot
• 1 (15 ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce or 2 cups tomato juice or 3 cups v 8 vegetable juice
• 2 (10 ½ ounce) cans condensed beef broth
• 2 ½ cups water
• 1 (15 ounce) can cut green beans , drained
• 3 cups vegetables , of choice (yellow corn, shoe-peg corn, lima or butter beans, green peas, large potato, peeled and diced, whatev)
• 1 ½ tablespoons parsley flakes
• ½ teaspoon black pepper

Directions:

1. Brown meat in large pot along w/ onions, celery, and carrots.
2. Add remaining ingredients, bring to a boil.
3. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 30-45 mins til veggies and barley are done.
4. Note #1: I’ve been adding ½ cup pearl barley to the soup, which will be done in the amount of simmering time. Quick barley takes only 10 minutes to cook so you could add later.
5. Note #2: I’ve found that adding pasta, while good at first, it continues to absorb the soup liquid and get really big and the soup becomes more like a stew. If you’d like noodles, I would cook them separately and add them to the bowl just before ladling in the soup.
6. Note #3: You could also add rice, if you would like.

Reviews

[bmcnichol]

This was good and easy to make. I followed the recipe as written other then I didn't have celery. I used a large can of tomato juice and added three beef cubes to it but no extra water. I didn't have fresh veggies so I used a can of potatoes, carrots, peas, corn, green beans and veg all. My family thought it could have used a bit more seasoning but we all enjoyed it. Hubby put some old bay in his and thought that made it "excellent".

[malcjn]

Best I've ever made. I used leftover roast beef (about 1 1/2 lb.) & added a can of whole kernel corn (drained), a can of cut green beans (drained), 2 potatoes (1/2" cubes), 2 cups chopped cabbage (1" pieces) & a whole large can of V8 juice, along with the ingredients in the recipe. Add extra water if too thick.

[Caroline Cooks]

Thank goodness for good ole basic soup recipes. This one is wonderful. I used the V-8 juice and leftover roast beef, celery, tomatoes, onions, potatoes, frozen corn and peas with a pinch of Herb Provencal. YUMMY! Made for the Soup event in Cooking Photos.