Country Beef Vegetable Soup

It's that terrible time of year!  Snowy, bitter cold, gray because the sun doesn't shine for more than a few minutes a day if at all, dark when you get up and dark hours before bedtime. Luckily January has flown by and before you know it we will be halfway through February and closer to springtime.  This soup will warm you up and make you feel good enough that you might even think you can survive the next few months without having to run away to a sunny tropical island. It can be done on the stove or in a slow cooker. I decided to make it on the stove.  This is adapted from www.cooks.com

Ingredients:

3/4 gallon beef stock (12 cups)
1 tbsp garlic, peeled and minced
2 large onions, diced
2-3 lbs beef chuck cut into 2" cubes
2 tbsp olive oil
4 stalks celery, sliced
1/2 cup red wine
5 potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
6 large carrots, peeled and sliced into chunks
2 bay leaves
1 bag of frozen peas
1 16 oz. can of tomato sauce
1/2 tbsp rosemary
1/2 tbsp thyme
1 tbsp cornstarch for thickening (optional)
salt and pepper to taste  

Dredge beef in flour and saute in olive oil until browned, adding garlic during the last few minutes of browning.

Add wine to remove browned bits from the bottom of the pan.  Add beef stock, the bay leaves, chopped onions, celery pieces, tomato sauce, rosemary and thyme.  Reduce heat to low.  Simmer for  2 hours until the onion is transparent and tender.  

Stir in cubed potatoes, sliced carrots and frozen peas.  Cook about an hour until vegetables are fork tender.

During the final 20 minutes of cooking the soup can be thickened if desired by mixing the cornstarch into a cup of cold water and adding to the soup.  The thicker you choose to make your soup the more stew-like it becomes.  Remove bay leaves before serving.  This is even better the next day!

If using the slow cooker, after browning the meat and garlic and adding the red wine you can transfer to the slow cooker, add the rest of the ingredients and cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 6-7 hours.

This was linked to:  www.mandysrecipebox, http://www.momstestkitchen.com/

Enjoy!  Susan