Fall....My Favorite

It's finally here....and I have been missing in action for quite some time. "Fall" cooler temperatures, flowers, jeans, winter lawn, ripening oranges, and yes, HALLOWEEN! I love it! The fall feeling just does something for my spirit.

I am two weeks late in the decor department. I have been out of town and unable to pull all the Halloween out of storage. This year I will settle for just a little touch of the Halloween spirit and then jump right into Thanksgiving and Christmas. (Not so excited about that!)

While flying around in the sky I happened upon a few "fallish" recipes in a magazine. Since I was in the spirit of it all, I tried one of the recipes. It is a keeper! So for those of you who love soup on a "fall" evening, here it is. Try it!

Alphabet Beef Vegetable Soup
1 1/2 pounds beef sirloin, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 medium-size onion, finely chopped
3 medium-size carrots, finely chopped
1 can (15 ounces) tomato sauce
3 cups beef broth
2 cups chicken broth
4 ounces green beans, ends snipped, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 cups frozen petite peas, thawed
2 cups frozen corn, thawed
2 cups uncooked alphabet noodles or other small pasta shapes

Sprinkle beef with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over high heat. Add beef, a few pieces at a time, and cook 2 minutes per side. Transfer to slow cooker.

Add onion and carrots to skillet and saute 3 minutes

Transfer contents of skillet to slow cooker and add tomato sauce, beef broth, chicken broth and green beans. Cover and cook on LOW for 5 to 6 hours. remove the cover and add the peas, corn and noodles. Cover and cook for an additional 45 minutes before serving.

This serves 8 people adequately.

I put this in my slow cooker on Sunday morning and had a great little mid-afternoon meal. Unfortunately, I forgot the alphabet noodles at the store and was disappointed. I substituted potatoes instead and it was great! But I do love those ABC'S!