Hamburger Soup

This recipe is great for a cold, blustery day.  I like to make it using leftovers from a crockpot beef roast, if i have any on hand.  My original recipe uses hamburger, though.  It tastes better than it sounds, if you're feeling skeptical!

Julianne's Vegetable Beef Soup
3 tablespoons butter
1 onion, minced fine
1 1/2 pounds extra-lean ground beef- do not substitute with regular ground beef!, or 2-3 cups leftover beef roast, cut in bite-size pieces
1 28 ounce can diced tomatoes, undrained
4 carrots, sliced into coins
4 stalks celery, diced
1 8-ounce package white mushrooms, sliced
4 10.5-ounce cans beef consomme
4 10.5 ounce cans, filled with water
1 15-ounce can corn, undrained 
1 tablespoons Worcestershire
1 bay leaf
10 whole, unground peppercorns
1 tablespoon salt
1/2 teaspoon of thyme, or 2 sprigs of fresh thyme
1 sprinkle dried parsley flakes
1 8-ounce package frozen peas

Melt butter in a large Dutch oven.  Add onions, cook until limp and translucent.  Add ground beef (or leftover beef roast bites) and cook until the raw meat is no longer pink.  Because you used lean ground beef (you did use lean ground beef, right?), you won't have any grease to drain.  Add tomatoes and bring to a simmer.  Add everything else EXCEPT the frozen peas, and simmer for 45 minutes.  Right before serving, add frozen peas, and cook until warmed through, just a few minutes.

Serve with crusty French or Italian bread with plenty of butter.

Notes:  Campbell's Soup still makes a consomme beef soup, and that's what I use.  If you can't locate any, beef broth with about a tablespoon of beef stock base would be an acceptable substitution- just remember you won't need to add the cans of water.

Somehow, the chopped celery missed its photo op.

I like this recipe because 1) it makes a big batch, and freezes well, and 2) despite all the chopping, really all you have to clean up in the kitchen (other than soup bowls and spoons) is a cutting board, the Dutch oven, a wooden spoon and measuring spoons.

This is what a sprinkle of parsley looks like.  I don't bother to measure it.