Soup Bonanza

Since it is now seriously fall, I feel free to indulge my soup habit.  Colder days equals soup all the time right?  Unfortunately, I have a tendency to make seriously large pots of it.  Seems I need to buy a large freezer and a bunch of plastic storage bowls when I get home, since my husband and I usually can't eat all of it in the space of three days.  Oh well, they make wonderful lunches to take to work or whatnot...they usually don't thaw out by lunch, so you don't need to take a separate cooler pack with you...a pint of frozen soup will keep anything else in your lunch bag cold, I guarantee it! 

The first soup of the season was a nice vegetable beef stew, and here's the approximate (since I didn't measure anything) recipe.  Keep in mind that this is a mostly vegetable soup, with just a bit of beef in it.  Feel free to adjust.

Vegetable Beef Soup:
1 pound stewing beef (I bought the already cut up stuff, but if you get a roast, trim the fat as you cut it up), Diced
1/4 of a good sized cabbage, diced or shredded
3 carrots, diced
3 potatoes, diced
1 1/2 onions, diced
1 15oz. can diced or stewed tomatoes
1/3 bag of frozen green beans
Water or Broth...homemade, prepared (check salt content), or bullion cubes or bullion base (I used Better than Bullion soup base, the chicken broth kind since it is what I had on hand, usually stock the Vegetable base variety)
2-3 Tablespoons olive oil to brown the meat
salt, pepper, garlic powder, parsley to season soup

Brown the meat in the oil first, seasoning a bit with salt and pepper (go easy of the salt if using prepared broth), then add the the cabbage, carrots, potatoes, onions, and canned tomatoes.  Cook for a bit, say 3-5 minutes, then add the water or broth to cover everything in the pot with about an inch to cover.  Add your bullion cubes or soup base if using to taste...best to add just a couple now and add more later if you think it needs the extra flavor kick.  Bring soup to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for about an hour.  Add the green beans, and season with some pepper, garlic powder, and parsley.  Simmer another 30 minutes and taste, adjust seasoning if needed (now would be the time to add any more bullion if you think you need it, or if you think you need more salt).  If you added any spices, cook for about 15 more minutes to let the flavor blend a bit, then serve, preferably with a salad and some nice homemade bread.