elaine’s old fashioned vegetable beef soup

Ingredients

• 1 pound ground beef (or ground turkey)
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 teaspoon chopped garlic, or to taste
• 1 cup diced raw potato (or ¼ c. barley, softened in 1 c. water for 8 hours or ¼ c. rice, millet, rye or farro)
• 1 cup sliced carrot
• 1 cup sliced celery
• 1/2 pound green beans, cut diagonally or 2 c. frozen cut beans
• 1 can diced tomatoes (28 oz) or 2 lbs. fresh or frozen tomatoes, diced
• 1 cup canned drained beans (kidney, black, or black eyed peas), optional
• 9 cups beef bouillon or stock or a combination of stock and water
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/4 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 - bay leaf
• 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
• 5 dashes red pepper sauce, optional
• 1 can whole kernel corn (7 oz), undrained (or ½ cup frozen corn)
• 1 (1/2) cup frozen peas