Special thanks to my guest blogger today, Cindy Shields

Hearty Beef Vegetable Soup/Stew

I make big batches of this soup and some times I thicken it and add dumplings. The left overs are frozen in plastic containers, making great meals to heat in the microwave at work.

2 lbs stew meat
1 tbsp butter
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

5 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp Heinz 57 sauce
1 large onion,chopped
4 stalks celery, chopped
12 cups beef broth (3 jugs)
4 cups V8 juice
3 bay leaves
1 tsp Spicy pepper medley
1 tsp Roasted garlic and peppers
2 tsp Basil
2 tsp Oregano
1 tsp Thyme
1 tsp parsley
1/4 tsp crushed chilies
1/2 tsp chili powder
2 tsp seasoning salt

1″ spaghetti in your fist, broke into 1″ pieces

1 turnip
1 large parsnip
4 large potatoes
6 large carrots
1 leek, chopped

If making dumplings, add dough to soup when vegetables start to boil. Cook covered for 10 minutes, uncover and continue to cook another 10 minutes. Remove dumplings to a bowl and keep warm in oven. Continue to make either the soup or stew. Always thicken the stew just prior to serving so it will not burn.

1 green pepper
1 red pepper
1 1/2 cups frozen peas

Sour cream (optional)

Brown the stew meat in the butter and shake Worcestershire on top of stew. Add the next 16 ingredients and bring to a boil. Turn down heat and simmer for 1 1/2 – 2 hours. Add the spaghetti broke into 1″ pieces and bring to a boil, stirring several times so the spaghetti won’t clump together. Add the next 5 vegetables, peeled and cubed into the same size pieces (I like bite size pieces). Bring to a boil again (add dumplings if desired) and simmer for 20 minutes or until the vegetables are tender crisp. Add the peppers chopped into pieces and the peas. Bring to a boil once more turn off and serve with a dollop of sour cream on top. For stew, thicken with a mixture of either 1 cup corn starch, 1/2 cup water and 1/4 cup Bisto traditional gravy mix or with flour, water and Bisto.

Dumplings

2 cups all purpose flour
3 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

2/3 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 tsp fresh parsley chopped

Mix flour, baking powder and salt well. Add the milk oil and parsley mix until it forms into a ball. Drop tablespoons of dough into boiling soup. Simmer covered for 10 minutes, uncover soup and continue to simmer another 20 minutes. Remove dumplings before thickening for stew.

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