My Own Autumn Soup

This is one of my most favorite soups! I used to make this alot when first married because we had so little money, and hamburger was VERY cheap. LOL Serve this with a nice crusty French or Italian bread, and pudding or JELL-O for dessert and slip back into the '60s!!

• Ready In: 1 hr
• Serves: 4-6

Ingredients

• 1 1⁄2 lbs ground beef
• 1  medium onion, chopped
• 1  teaspoon salt
• 3⁄4 teaspoon pepper
• 2  cups beef broth
• 1 (10 ounce) can  tomato soup, diluted with 1 can of water*
• 4  stalks celery, sliced med
• 4  large carrots, peeled and sliced med
• 3  medium potatoes, peeled and diced 1/2 inch
• 3  fresh tomatoes, chopped roughly do not drain
•  fresh parsley
• 1  bay leaf

Directions

1. Saute ground beef and onion with salt and pepper until browned.
2. Add beef broth, tomato soup (or canned toms*) and water.
3. Add prepared veggies, parsley flakes, toms, and bay leaf. Simmer until veggies are tender (15 to 20 minutes).
4. If you have any leftover tomatoes (fresh, frozen or canned) or tomato sauce, add that while cooking the veggies.
5. Remove bay leaf
6. * You could use 2 undrained cans of the newer canned toms like toms with basil, etc., in place of tom soup and water. Also omit fresh toms.
7. Canned toms are what I use now, esp when good fresh toms are not available.
8. Years ago, when I first started making this, these types of canned toms were not available.