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[the_reverand]

Have I said how good I've gotten at making vegetable beef soup?

Very good, that's how good. I mean, it's a no-brainer, but tonight's is the best pot to date.

Mmmmm. *passes out bowls*

Comments

mailed you but I'll stick it here, too

[the_reverand]

I make no claim that this is an actual recipe! It's just what I've found works, based largely on my mom telling me how to do it in what I'm certain was less than twenty words. :D

You'll need:
-Beef or/and Ham: Almost any beef or ham you like, really, so long as you cut it into manageable bits or buy it already in chunks or ground. I prefer leaner meat. Ground extra lean beef works great, but you can also use Round chunks or sirloin strips something like that. My mom makes hers with a meaty ham bone leftover from thanksgiving or Christmas. I like to throw in a few pieces of chunk ham (you can buy it already cooked and cubed) along with the beef, but I've tried it without it and that's good, too!

-Vegetables of your choosing: I use *fresh* green beans, fresh carrots (I buy them already cut because I'm lazy), corn (canned or frozen is fine), potatoes (I prefer red potatoes because they're awesome and you don't have to peel them... lazy!). I also added yellow squash last time. Zucchini is another popular addition. The Captain likes field peas.

-Canned stewed tomatoes.

-Oregano, basil, whateveryouwant.

How much you need of any of this depends on how much you want to make. Bacuase there are so many ingredients, it's easy to accidentally make an enormous pot. I made a small pot last time and only used one can of tomatoes and a half pound of beef. (I should have used more beef but I was trying to keep the fat content as low as possible.)

Okay, so, enough rambling.

Brown your beef (I don't brown the ham. I buy it already cooked). I use a little tiny bit of olive oil but you don't have to. I also season the beef with the oregano, basil, salt and pepper.

Add water. I dunno... two cups? (You'll add more later.) Simmer the beef for a little while in the water. (You can throw in the ham no, too.) You're making beef broth this way. I also like to add a beef boullion cube (two if I'm making a big pot). Simmer it for 15 minutes or so, add water if necessary. Don't let it scorch!

While the beef is simmering, chop your veggies! Not too small, not too big. (Especially the potatoes cut into cubes) cannot be too small. They cook faster the smaller they are.) I usually have a veggie bowl and I just throw everything in as I'm going to guage the amount of veggies so I don't use too many of one thing. For a small pot I'd probably use two handfuls of carrots, lots of green beans because I'm a green bean fanatic, a small can of corn niblets, 2 to 4 potatoes depending on size. Be sure to cut the potatoes up seperately! You won't add them at the same time as the other veggies. And if you use something like squash or zuchinni, you will ad those even later. However, if you use fres peas (uncooked) you'll want to add those before anything else.

While the beef is still simmering, pour your stewed tomatoes into a bowl making sure to get every last tomato-y drop(you can dump them on top of your veggie bowl if you want). If they're whole or halved you'll have to squish them. This is the fun part! I like to take out the little stringy bit, too.

Now dump your tomatoes and veggies into the beef and broth (but not your potatoes yet!). Add water to cover veggies. Stir it all up, add a little more basil, oregano, garlic, whatever you want. I make
veggie-heavy soup so I keep just enough water to cover and cook everything. I usually keep it at a good gentle boil. As the veggies cook, all that yumminess will flavor your soup. It tastes boring at first, so don't fret.

Check on it often, gently stirring, adding water. A few mintes after adding all your veggies you can throw in your potatoes. If you add squash, wait until you think all the other veggies are *almost* done, then throw the squash in. It cooks very fast.

That's pretty much it. Once all the veggies are as soft as you like and once the soup is delicious, it's done! You can put pasta in it but I don't. I've served it over (but not with) rice and that's good, too. I most like serving it with garlic bread.

If for some reason you feel it's not tomato-y enough, or if your soup is too thin and watery, just add (a bit at a time) more stewed tomatoes. It's easy to fix.