Hearty Vegetable-Beef Soup

Yay! It’s soup/chili/stoup time of year!  I do NOT like cold weather, but I do like to make cold weather food.  I would be happy living in south Florida where I could wear flip-flops and shorts year-round. 

This soup is something I adapted from a recipe my mother made when I was growing up.  When I was really young and I would find out that she was making this for dinner, I moaned, groaned, bitched, and begged her not to make it- but I would give in eat it everytime anyway.  Then as I got older, I started looking forward to it.  Now it’s something I make a good bit during the cold months.   And Yes, even though I’m in Alabama, it DOES get cold……very cold – but we never get the snow.

Ingredients:

3/4 lb of rotini pasta (or seashells, or whatever your favorite is)

1 lb ground round

2 cans beef broth

2 cups water

1 can tomato soup

1 can petite diced tomatoes

1 can diced potatoes

1 bag frozen mixed vegetables

Ketchup (just have a bottle on hand; how much you use is up to you and your tastebuds)

In a large dutch oven, brown the ground round; drain.  In a bowl, combine the soup, broth and water, then add to the pan with the meat.  Stir over medium-high heat until starting to bubble.  Add the veggies, tomatoes and pasta and cover.  Reduce heat to medium-low and cook until pasta is tender, about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add about 1/4 cup ketchup, combine and then recover, cooking for about another 5-10 minutes.  Taste and add more ketchup, salt and pepper if you think it needs it.  I always add more!

Just a little tip -make cornbread with this and crumble it up in your bowl with the soup.  I can’t eat it any other way.

I actually made corn muffins to go with this, but they were gone before I could take a picture 🙁