Old-fashioned Beef Vegetable Soup

Ingredients

• 1 beef shank or large soup bone
• 3 tablespoons oil canola, olive oil
• 2 quarts water
• 2 whole bay leaves
• 4 medium carrots sliced
• 4 medium potatoes peeled & cubed
• 1 large yellow onion chopped
• 1 medium turnip pared and chopped
• 3 stalks celery chopped
• 2 cans cut tomatoes We use Petite Cut with Onions & Garlic
• 2 cups chopped cabbage
• 1 cup corn
• ½ cup peas
• ⅓ cup pearl barley
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1-2 teaspoons hot sauce
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• ¼ cup alphabet letter pasta optional; or 1 can Campbell’s Alphabet Soup
• Additional salt, pepper, and hot sauce to taste

Instructions

• Heat a medium stock pot over medium-high heat.

Make the Beef Stock

• You can skip this step if your soup bone is already cooked, or if they have no discernible meat of them.Add enough olive oil to your soup pot to barely cover the bottom. Season the beef shank with a little kosher salt salt brown it on both sides.
• Cover the browned soup bone with 2 quarts of water, and add 2 bay leaves.Bring to a simmer, and then reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 2 hours.Remove the beef bone and bay leaves from the beef stock. Set the beef bone aside to cool.
• When the beef bone is cool, remove any meat from it. Discard the bone (or give it to your dog!).Cover and refrigerate the meat while the soup simmers.

Simmer the Soup

1. Add all remaining ingredients to the beef stock except the optional Campbell’s Soup or alphabet pasta, and simmer over low heat for 2 more hours.
2. When the soup almost done simmering, add the meat and alphabet pasta (or Campbell’s soup).Continue to simmer until the pasta is done; about 8 minutes.
3. Taste the soup and season with additional salt, pepper, and hot sauce as desired.