Vegetables are good for the body, and vegetable beef soup is good for the soul. One of my favorite traditional family recipes is for vegetable beef soup. I fondly remember my mother cooking huge batches of the soup that she froze for later meals. As a woman who works fulltime by choice, I need plenty of working mom recipes that I can prepare quickly or in advance. Vegetable beef soup is one of those traditional family recipes that is also a perfect working mom recipe.
Ingredients
- 1/2 pound of lean beef
- 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
- 1 medium white onion
- 1 medium clove of garlic
- 1 can of no salt added tomatoes (14.5 ounce can)
- 1 can of beef broth (26 ounce can)
- 1 can of red beans (15.5 ounce can)
- 2 cans of diced potatoes (15 ounce cans)
- 1 can of no salt added golden sweet whole kernel corn (15 ounce can)
- 1 can of no salt added sweet peas (15 ounce can)
- 1 can of cut green beans (14.5 ounce can)
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper
Instructions
- Chop the beef into half-inch pieces.
- Pour the vegetable oil in a large frying pan.
- Heat the oil.
- Add the chopped beef to the pan.
- Sauté the beef until the meat begins to brown.
- Combine the onion, garlic, and tomatoes in an electric blender.
- Blend until smooth.
- Combine the tomato mixture and the beef broth in a large soup pan.
- Drain the vegetables and add to the soup pan.
- Add the cooked beef to the soup pan.
- Add the salt and pepper to the soup pan. Adjust to taste.
- Cook the vegetable beef soup over medium heat until hot and bubbly.
- Serve hot with saltine or oyster crackers.
- Refrigerate or freeze any unused portion.*
*To serve the frozen leftover vegetable beef soup, simply allow the frozen soup to thaw in the refrigerator and then reheat on the stove in a soup pan.
Other vegetables such as carrots and celery can also be added to this recipe for vegetable beef soup. However, because I am allergic to both carrots and celery, I opt to exclude these allergens and include only vegetables that I can eat. Thus, one of the reasons that vegetable beef soup is one of my favorite traditional family recipes is the versatility of the ingredients. I also love that I can cook huge batches and freeze the leftovers for later meals, making vegetable beef soup one of many ideal working mom recipes.
Originally published on Librarian Mom – My Reference Book on Parenting
Image Credits
Vegetable Soup: https://www.flickr.com/photos/johnnystiletto/7531398398/