Hamburger Vegetable Stew!

This is one of those one pot meals that is great when you want homemade, but don't have all afternoon to cook or to wait.  Sometimes, I decide I want something like vegetable soup at the last minute and I didn't thaw out stew meat, much less start it 'stewing' earlier in the day.  There is nothing worse than a big pot of wonderful vegetable beef soup with tough beef in it that hasn't had long enough to get tender.   That is when this recipe comes into play for me.  My husband loves this soup.  I think he might like it even better than the old fashioned kind with the stew meat that takes several hours. 

 Here is all you will need for this:

1 1/2 - 2 lbs. ground chuck

1 medium onion, diced

1/2 cup sliced celery

2-3 medium potatoes, peeled and diced

1 (12 oz.)  bag frozen mixed vegetables (I used the Bird's Eye Steamfresh brand)

1 (20 oz.) can crushed tomatoes

1 (15 oz.) can tomato sauce

2 cups V-8 juice

1 Tbs. Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp. sugar

1 pkg. dry beefy onion soup (I used Lipton's)

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. Cajun seasoning or seasoned salt

1/2 tsp. black pepper

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

dash of Tabasco sauce (optional)

8 cups water

6 oz. egg noodles, uncooked or 1/2 of a 12 oz. bag

Brown the ground chuck along with the diced onion and sliced celery in a Dutch oven or large soup pot.  Drain any excess grease off.    Add all of the other ingredients, except the egg noodles.  Bring up to a boil, turn down to low, cover and let simmer for 30-45 minutes, stirring a few times during the cooking time.  

Add in the uncooked egg noodles. Turn the heat up to medium just to cook the noodles, although egg noodles don't require a lot of cooking time.  As they cook, you might need to add a couple of cups of additional water.  You can tell if it's getting too thick . After about 30 minutes, when the egg noodles are tender,  taste for seasoning, you might need a little more salt and pepper according to your preference.   Then it's ready to serve! 

This can be made using your slow cooker also.  Brown the ground chuck before putting in the slow cooker, add the other ingredients except for the noodles.  Decrease the water to about 6 cups.  Cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours.  Add the eggs noodles in the last hour of cooking, on high.

This is so good and so easy!