It’s our first perfectly Fall day. Perfect jacket weather. Perfect for a little touch tackle football. Perfect for an aromatic candle to be lit. Perfect hat weather.

Perfect to put our feet up and hunker down with a good book after the kids are tucked in bed. Perfect for hot tea. Classical music perfection. Or in my case, Christmas music perfection. A perfect afternoon to tease the taste buds with a foreshadowing of the loot of candy coming our way (in this instance, a Kit Kat).

And perfect for a nice, warm bowl of soup.

It took me a long time to find a vegetable soup I liked. And this one is just the perfect one for our perfectly Fall day. I like it because it’s true to its name: hearty. And meaty. Of course, if you want a true vegetable soup, simply eliminate the meat. Easy in, easy out. And bonus: it’s also easy to make!

Hearty Vegetable Soup

Courtesy of Desert Treasures by The Junior League of Phoenix

• 1 pound ground chuck or beef
• 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
• 1 tsp. Worcestershire
• 1/2 TBSP sugar
• 1 TBSP basil
• 1 can (2.5 lbs.) tomatoes
• 1 can (8 oz.) tomato sauce
• 1 1/2 cups potatoes, cubed
• 1/2 cup onion, chopped
• 1 cup celery, chopped
• 1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped
• 2 cans beef bouillon
• 1 box (10 oz.) frozen mixed vegetables

1. Brown the meat.
2. Add remaining ingredients EXCEPT the frozen vegetables.
3. Simmer one hour.
4. Add frozen vegetables. Cook another hour. Skim fat off top, if necessary.

Serves 8-10

Serve it up with some warm, crusty French or sourdough bread, corn bread, or maybe it’s pumpkin bread you’ll fancy. Do you have a perfect soup for Fall or a favorite side to go with it?

May this find you and yours doing well, whether you already have snow on the ground; or are sitting under a blazing Australian sun as summer commences; or, like us, are finally getting to breath a sigh of relief that you survived the summer and can now enjoy a perfectly good Fall day.

Simply trusting,