Beef & Vegetable Soup

Is it terrible that I frequently base our dinner's main course off whatever type of bread I'm in the mood for? 

This happened to me today as I was craving some Irish Soda Brown Bread. This bread pairs nicely with beef-based soups like Food Network's Corned Beef & Cabbage Soup but, working with the ingredients I already had in stock, I decided to come up with my own recipe. 

The ingredient that makes this soup stand out is the tomato paste. The combination of tomato paste, worcestershire sauce, and vegetables reminds me of shepherd's pie, just without the potatoes on top. 

Each of my boys had three servings of this soup and the pot was literally scraped clean! Combined with warm, buttered brown bread and there were a lot of full bellies in our home tonight.

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{Beef & Vegetable Soup}

1 pound beef, cut into small pieces
3 c. beef broth
1 T. olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1/2 c. carrots, chopped
1 c. celery, sliced
1 c. tomatoes, chopped
1 c. arugula, chopped
2 c. corn
1 t. worcestershire sauce
1 T. tomato paste
salt and pepper to taste

Heat olive oil in a large pot. Saute onions. Season beef with salt and pepper. Add beef and saute until browned. Add remaining ingredients and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for one hour, adding water as needed. Season with salt and pepper. Makes 4 servings.

{enjoy!}