Frugal Meal Friday:Italian Vegetable Beef Soup

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. ground beef, browned and drained
• 1/2 cup rice
• 1 can kidney beans, drained
• 1 can tomato sauce
• 1 can green beans, drained (or use frozen)
• 1 can corn, drained (or use frozen)
• 2-3 carrots, thinly sliced
• 8 cups beef broth
• 1 T. dry minced onion
• 1 tsp. basil
• 1/2 tsp. pepper

Start this in the morning! First, saute the carrots in a little bit of olive oil.  Then put all ingredients into a slow cooker, and stir gently.  Cook on high until rice is cooked, then turn down to low the remainder of the day.  If you end up starting this later in the day, just keep it on high, about 4-6 hours.

This is kid friendly soup (at least in my house!), as my younger kids don't like chunks of tomatoes or onions in their soups.  If your family likes those things, you could put a can of chopped tomatoes instead of tomato sauce, and fresh chopped onion instead of the dried minced.

A couple of notes: When I made this today, which is what the picture shows, I was low on ground beef.  So, I only used 1/2 lb. of it, and put extra rice in (3/4 cup), plus 3 carrots instead of 2.  When I have celery on hand, I will chop up a couple of ribs, saute it with the carrots, and add it in also. This is a really versatile soup!  Enjoy!

This post is linked up at:

Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways
Gluten Free Wednesdays
Raising Homemakers Homemaking Link-up
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