Vegetable Beef Soup

My Daddy always made this soup. He considered it his specialty ~ after grilling and fried potatoes!  As a kid, I hated it ~ I mean, it was vegetable soup! ~ but as I grew older, I couldn't wait for cooler weather to come so Dad would make his signature dish!

Ingredients:

1 lb. beef stew meat (I use half a chuck roast)
1 T. olive oil
kosher salt and cracked black pepper
2-3 russet potatoes, peeled and diced
1 medium onion, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 T. melted butter
1 bag frozen mixed vegetables
1 4-cup box beef stock
1 small bottle of V-8 juice
1 large can diced tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
1 small head cabbage, chopped
1 c. dry macaroni (for fun, I sometimes use alphabet/star pasta)

Directions:
Heat olive oil in stock pot. Thoroughly dry and then season the stew meat and place in stock pot to brown. Once browned, remove the meat and add in 1/2 c. of beef stock to deglaze the pot, stirring to remove browned bits. Return the meat, and then add int the remaining stock, potatoes, frozen veggies, tomatoes, and tomato sauce.

In a saucepan, cook onion and celery in butter until translucent. Add to soup mixture along with cabbage. Add in about 1/2 the bottle of V-8 juice. Cook on low 3-4 hours.

During last hour, add in macaroni. Stir every 15 minutes so the pasta won't stick to the bottom. I usually serve this with fresh baked bread. (Um, Rhodes frozen bread dough loaves!) This hearty soup/stew is a meal within itself!

Posting this really makes me miss my Daddy!  However, it's always a good memory of him when I make this!  I can see him in my mind's eye prepping the veggies and surreptitiously stirring in his "secret weapon" that he insisted made the soup taste better! Unfortunately, I never found out what that was!