Hangover Soup - Sans Hangover

This soup is a favorite in these parts. Everyone seems to have their own recipe, but the basic ingredients that seem to be common are tomato, macaroni and ground beef. I read a few recipes to get an idea of what I wanted to have then I winged it. Like usual :) I think the idea of this soup is to really use what you have on hand to fill your tummy. Please note this made A LOT of soup, and can easily be halved. I just had a bunch of meat defrosted and used half in this recipe and plan to put half in chili tomorrow. 

Ingredients: 

2 cups each of carrots and celery chopped

(give or take to your preference. This would also be good with green beans and/or peppers) 

2 onions, minced 

2 large cans (28 oz each) of whole tomatoes

(I blended mine before adding, but they can be roughly chopped if you prefer) 

1 small can (5.5 oz) of tomato paste

16-24 cups of beef broth 

(I only had powdered, but I prefer tetra packs, or even better yet, homemade!)

3-4 tablespoons oregano

2 Tablespoons thyme 

3 Tablespoons parsley 

2-3 bay leaves

Salt and pepper to taste 

Ground beef (I used approximately 2.5 lb) 

2 cups of macaroni (it was pretty much the whole box, so I dumped in the rest, see pic below) 

(Note: I didn't really measure the spices. I just eyeballed them! Go with what tastes good!) 

Instructions: 

1. Brown beef in a pan. Rinse and strain. Set aside. 

2. Add veggies to pan with a bit of oil or Pam. Cook until tender. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, broth and spices and bring to a simmer. For best taste allow the soup to simmer for a bit (I did dishes). 

3. Add uncooked noodles and cooked beef, simmer until noodles are cooked (about 10 minutes) making sure to stir often to make sure noodles don't stick to the bottom. Check taste (may need to add salt). Enjoy! (Zoey sure did!) 

This would be considered simply filling.