Homemade Vegetable Beef Soup
On cool fall evenings and on chilly wintry evenings, homemade vegetable soup will fit the bill. Choose your vegetables and add what you like best.
If you’re a fan of garlic, saute one or two cloves of garlic in melted butter while your other vegetables are cooking. Wash potatoes and carrots; you do not need to peel them. (Remember that the peelings contain the most nutrition.) Add onion and celery and enough water to cover, then bring to a boil. Turn the heat down and simmer until almost tender. Then add corn, lima beans, peas and frozen green beans and the garlic. If you are adding canned green beans, add them at the end when all they need is to be heated through.
Simmer until the vegetables are tender. Add canned beef (or fried hamburger, left-over roast, or another meat if you’d rather.) Heat, adding salt and pepper to taste. Add your tomato juice or canned tomatoes. Adding ketchup helps thicken the soup and gives it more flavor – but you can leave this out if you’d like.
If you have some leftover vegetables in your refrigerator, add those at the end of the simmering, with enough time left to heat them thoroughly. With this soup, you can add more or less of an ingredient according to your family’s preferences. Tweak it to fit your family, and they will be sure to be pleased.
Enjoy!
Made From Scratch Vegetable Beef Soup
Ingredients
- 2-4 cups water
- 4 cups potatoes - washed and diced
- 2 cups carrots - washed and sliced
- 1 cup cabbage - cleaned and cut into bite-size pieces
- 4 stalks celery - washed and sliced
- 1 cup frozen corn
- 1 cup frozen lima beans
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 1 cup frozen green beans or canned
- 2 cups tomato juice
- 1/4 - 1/2 cup ketchup optional
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 Tbsp butter
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- 2-4 cups canned beef or fried hamburger
Instructions
- Place potatoes, carrots, cabbage, and celery in kettle
- Cover with water and simmer until almost tender
- Add corn, lima beans, peas and green beans and cook until done
- While vegetables are cooking, sautee garlic clove in butter, and then add to the vegetables
- Add beef, then tomato juice (or canned tomatoes) and ketchup (if desired)
- Season with salt and pepper to taste
