Faith's Vegetable Beef Soup

Any vegetables you have on hand would work great for this soup: zucchini, broccoli, green beans, spinach, peas, cabbage, kidney or other bean.

You can also make half a recipe and it turns out well. You can freeze the extra canned vegetables to make another batch at a later date. I have to admit I prefer this with the ground beef, but I am not a big beef eater.

3 - 4 Tbsp. butter
1 pound round beef cubes, cut into small bite size pieces (can substitute ground beef)
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1 can stewed tomatoes with juice (I have used V-8 juice when I was out of stewed tomatoes)
1 can corn with juice (can substitute frozen but the juice adds flavor)
1 can lima beans with juice, add protein (can substitute frozen, but do note that frozen lima beans are not cooked and need to be cooked before adding them to the soup)
2 cubes beef bouillon or 2 tsp. Beef base
4 potatoes, cubed
2 carrots, sliced
2 parsnips, sliced (optional)
Water
2 Tbsp. barley (can substitute tiny pasta, such as Acini di Pepe, or Israeli couscous
1/4 cup fresh parsley

If using frozen lima beans, cook in water until softened. Beans are notorious for not softening in acid and tomatoes are acidic. Canned lima beans are fully cooked and can be added to the soup per the instructions.

You may want to cook the potatoes, carrots, and parsnips, if using, in water until just easily pierced with a fork, and you may want to cook them separately. Do not overcook. My earlier recipe had you cook them in the stewed tomatoes and they took forever. This was when I flash fried some sirloin in the pan and removed it. I didn't have liquid from the cans of vegetables, although I did add water. Maybe not enough.

Melt the butter in a soup pot. Heat the pot to high. Quickly brown the meat in batches and remove to a dish. Add the onion and cook until soft. If using ground beef, add all of it and add the onion when the meat is just turning brown.

Add the beef, stewed tomatoes and the juice from the cans of corn and lima beans to the onion. Add the bouillon or beef base, the potatoes, carrots. parnips, if using, and the barley (add pasta with the canned vegetables). Add water as needed for a soup consistency. Simmer until the vegetables are just about done, again adding more water, if needed. This will take about an hour.

Add the canned vegetables (pasta if using) and simmer until heated through (and the pasta is done). Add the parsley just before serving.

Good with Hard Salami Sandwiches

Note: Spinach can also be added near the end of cooking.