Vegetable Beef Soup

My mother makes the best vegetable soup ever. I’ve never made it myself, because whenever mom would make some, she’d bring half of it over to my house for me to eat. My husband was never a fan of vegetable soup, in fact there are incriminating photos of him as a 4 year old, pouting in front of a bowl of veggie soup……his mother says he stayed at that spot till bedtime because he wasn’t permitted to leave the table until he ate it! However, now that he is grown, he will eat his vegetables…including this delicious vegetable beef soup.

I’ve copied this word for word from my mother. It is another no-recipe recipe.

Homemade Vegetable Beef Soup

“Here is how I make vegetable soup:

“I buy a small (2-3 pound or more) chuck roast or English roast and rinse it and put it into a heavy pot, add water to cover and then boil it until it is done and is falling apart. Maybe a couple of hours…don’t know for sure how long this takes.

“Then I put it into the refrigerator overnight so that it will get cold and I can skim off the fat. If your refrigerator is full, you could put the meat in one container and the broth in another. This makes it easy to skim off the fat from the broth. I usually cool it overnight. You may want to use some of this meat for sandwiches. You don’t need it all for the soup…just chop us some of it for the soup. I depends on how much soup you want to make.

“Then I dice up some potatoes, carrots, onions, and celery and add that to the chopped meat and broth. The amount of vegetables, again, depends on how much you want to make. I usually have about equal amounts of carrots and potatoes and a little less of the onion and celery. You can add other vegetables but I only use these.

In this picture is one onion chopped, 3 carrots chopped, 2 celery stalks chopped and 2 potatoes diced as well as a 3 lb. English Roast cooked and chopped.

“Add water to the broth so that the vegetables are ‘swimming’ around a little. Let this cook until vegetables are tender. Then add a can of diced tomatoes and a small can of tomato puree (the thick paste). Do not add the puree until the vegetables are done because the puree will make the soup boil over. Simmer for a while until flavors are blended. The puree will thicken things up a bit so don’t have the burner set too high.

“Of course you need to add salt and pepper if desired. I also use about 2 teaspoons of sugar to counterbalance the acid of the tomatoes. You won’t taste the sugar.

“This soup will taste better the second and third day if it lasts that long.

“This recipe is one that you just use your judgment on as to the amount of vegetables and meat you use. It turns out good no matter what the proportions are. I usually make a large pot of it whenever I make it. I think the secret to this soup is using “Hunt’s Tomato Puree”.

I have used other brands but they are not as tasty.”