Beef Vegetable Soup

What a great and busy weekend! The past few days have felt like a whirlwind. It all started on Friday, which was my 26th birthday! I spent the day with my baby girl making soup and cupcakes for Lauren's bridal shower the next day. In the afternoon, Lauren stopped by and brought me ice-cream =) and hung out for a few hours before we all went out to dinner with my family at Fireside Tavern. I had a delicious meal of crab cakes and mashed potatoes with a brownie and ice-cream dessert.
Saturday morning was crazy busy trying to get everything ready for the shower and feeding Leah. The women in my family did a wonderful job setting everything up for Lauren's shower and everything came together just in time. I will hopefully have pictures to share soon! Tyler brought Leah to the shower an hour early so I could feed her and so family could see her, then Tyler took her home for her nap right when the shower started. It worked out well and I had a great time celebrating Lauren and Neal and their upcoming wedding in a few months. It made me very excited for May!! After we cleaned up from the shower, we went up to Lauren and Neal's new house in Mt. Joy to drop off gifts and then in the evening our small group friends came over to hang out. It was quite a day, but it was filled with so much fun and love!
Sunday started with church and then we went out to lunch at Red Lobster with Tyler's family to celebrate Parke and my birthday. It was Leah's first time at a restaurant and she did great! Basically slept the whole way through the meal. Afterwards, I had enough time to come home and feed Leah before heading off to my cousin Krystal's surprise baby shower. It was another fun party with lots of great food and family.
Today I am recovering from my busy weekend by doing laundry.... and I'm going to try taking Leah with me to the grocery store this afternoon. Wish me luck =)

This soup is quite delicious! We served it at Lauren's bridal shower this weekend and it was a hit. The recipe is from my mom's friend Jen. I also made it the other week for a friend who just had a baby. It makes a ton of soup and is a great meal to bring to people or to freeze for another time.
Enjoy!

Beef Vegetable Soup

1 (15 oz) can diced tomatoes
8 cups water
1 (15 oz) can tomato sauce
6 beef boulion cubes
1 large onion (about a cup)
1 cup sliced carrots
1 cup potato
10 oz. peas
2/3 bag of shredded cabbage
1 small box lima beans
1 small box green beans
1 pack corn (I used 2 cups of fresh corn)
1/2 tsp. basil
1/4 tsp. dill
1/2 tsp. pepper
salt to taste
1 1/2 - 2 lb.s beef (I used a chuck roast)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 envelope dry onion soup mix

Cook beef in cream of mushroom soup and dry onion mix in the crock pot for 3-4 hours or until done. Cut up meat and save the gravy. Combine all ingredients in a large soup pot with the meat and several spoonfuls of gravy. Simmer for at least 20 minutes or until vegetables are tender.