Old-Fashioned Vegetable Beef Soup

Better than Campbell's but just as comforting! Loosely based on a gourmet cooking magazine's recipe for Beef Barley soup, I didn't have any barley or okra, so I added root veggies to make it more hearty, like a rich broth with the chunkyness of stew. It turned out to be the best soup I've ever made! DH, stepson and baby girl kept coming back for more.

• Ready In: 2 hrs
• Serves: 4-6

Ingredients

• 1  lb beef stew meat
• 1  onion
• 3  celery ribs
• 10  baby carrots (or a couple regular carrots)
• 2  potatoes (peeled if you like)
• 1  cup frozen corn
• 1  cup  frozen peas
• 2 (14 ounce) cans diced tomatoes (I use salt-free)
• 3 1⁄2 cups beef broth (or 2 14-oz cans)
• 2  small bay leaves
• 2  teaspoons garlic powder
• 2  tablespoons olive oil (or any cooking oil)
• 4  cups water
• 2  teaspoons  hot pepper sauce

Directions

1. Cut meat into small, bite-size (1/2") pieces.
2. In a large pot or dutch oven, saute meat in 1 T oil on medium-high heat until all sides are brown.
3. Set aside on a plate.
4. Chop celery, onion, potatoes, and carrots into bite-size pieces.
5. Saute celery and onion in remaining 1 T oil until onion is golden (about 10 minutes).
6. Add browned beef, water, broth, tomatoes with juices, carrots, potatoes, corn, bay leaves and garlic.
7. Bring to a boil.
8. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered until beef is almost tender, about an hour.
9. Add peas and hot sauce to soup.
10. Cover and simmer until beef is tender, about 30 minutes longer.
11. Serve and season with freshly ground black pepper, hot sauce, or crumbled saltines, if desired.