Kay’s Vegetable Beef Soup
               Kay Depew

A cold weather favorite

2 to 2 1/2  lbs. Stew meat, diced into smaller bite size pieces.
2 + C each onion, carrots, celery, turnips and potatoes, diced to about 1/2 inch (We use 2 well rounded cups)
1 (28 oz.) can diced tomatoes  (Kay used to dice fresh tomatoes. Canned is so much easier)
2 10 ½ oz.) cans beef consume
3 cans        of beef broth 
 4bay leaves  (or 5)
splash of Kitchen Bouquet  (for color only)
a little olive oil    
salt and pepper to taste

   (1)      Pour a little olive oil into a large Dutch Oven (on the stove). Toss the meat with some S, P and flour and brown the beef first. Remove beef                     and then add the vegetables and let cook a few minutes until they start to soften. Add beef back in  Add tomatoes, consume, beef broth, bay leaves and Kitchen Bouquet, Place in a 350º oven for about and hour and fifteen minutes.     Vegs should be cooked but still firm and beef should be tender.  Cook longer to your taste.  Add S & P and/or any other seasoning you like.
    OR
   (2) we have just combined all the ingredients, except the flour and oil, and cooked it without browning the meat and vegetables first.  We couldn't really taste the difference.
 
Always better the second day.  Great with lots of hot buttered rolls....

Although it isn't in Kay's recipe, I  add some Radich's BOR-DO-LAY sauce to my bowl. 
It rounds out the flavor so well I can't imagine having the soup without some Radich's. 

Notes:
This recipe is just a general road map. Add or subtract to fit your needs and taste.
2/14/2010
 We changed the liquid as noted (rather than 5 cans of consume) and it has a much better  flavor for us.