My New Favorite Soup Recipe

I have a new favorite recipe and, as the title suggests, it's for soup. Really yummy soup.

My original plan was to make Beef Barley Soup using this recipe, but I found the recipe in the morning and wanted to eat the soup that night. And, there just wasn't the time in the day to hit up the grocery store. I didn't have the chuck roast, but I had stew meat. I didn't have the barley, either. So, I improvised. Big time.

Here is what I had (and what I used):
-Stew meat
-Frozen carrots
-Frozen peas
-Frozen green beans
-Vegetable oil
-Bay leaves
-Beef broth
-Beef bouillon cubes (only two of them!)
-Garlic and peppercorn grinder

Here's what I did:

First, I browned the meat using a small amount of vegetable oil and a generous supply from the garlic and peppercorn grinder. If you don't have this fantastic grinder, I suggest you pick it up. It is a great addition to a lot  of meals. I especially like it on scrambled eggs and in my homemade spaghetti sauce.

At the same time, I poured a little more oil into a stockpot and dumped in a fair amount of frozen vegetables (in writing this, I've come to realize that I did not measure a thing while making this soup...whoops). I didn't use a ton of green beans, because they're not my favorite. In fact, next time, I think I'll leave them out. I did, however, use a lot of peas and carrots. YUM!

I can't tell you how long I cooked the vegetables...when the carrots tasted mostly done, I added the beef, broth and two bouillon cubes. I sprinkled on some more garlic pepper and dropped in two bay leaves. I probably simmered the soup for 15 to 20 minutes and served it right up, with homemade rolls. It was delicious-and Mr. Husband thought so, too!

I'm sorry this isn't written like a normal recipe with clear cut measurements, steps and cook times. I plan on making the soup again this weekend, so I'll pay more attention to the details.