Hamburger Stew/Soup a la Annie Brown

ok, i'm totally stealing this recipe from annie. mostly i'm just posting this here, because i'm at her house now, and i don't have anywhere to copy it at the moment, so here we go:

INGREDIENTS
1 lb ground beef
1 pkg taco seasoning mix
1 (10.75 oz) can condensed tomato soup
3-3/4 cups water
1 cup chopped onion
4 carrots, chopped
3 potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 stalk celery, chopped (optional, thank God! nothing more disgusting than cooked celery)
1 (15 oz) can corn or peas

DIRECTIONS
1. in a large pot over medium heat, saute the ground beef. add the taco seasoning, soup, water, onions, carrots, potatoes, celery and beans. reduce heat to low. cover and simmer about 30 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender.
2. just before serving, thicken with corn starch to more of a stew consistency.

now, here's those extra little tips that are never in recipes, but that you always get when you talk to the cook herself. so, here we go:

• use frozen veggies, not canned. easier, healthier, yummier.
• really, just add whatever veggies you have on hand. peppers, green beans, whatever you've got, throw it in.
• brown the beef ahead of time, like when you bring it home. toss it in the crockpot all day, turning it over every couple hours. just toss it in on high; it's an all day thing, but if it makes things easier in the long run, i'm all for it. once it's done, toss it in some ziploc bags and freeze it. then when you go to make the stew, you just toss in the meat already browned. makes the whole process go faster.

there you go. i'm going to give it a whirl in the next few days, and i'll let you know how it turned out. although annie says her family loves it, so i'm guessing mine will like it, too, since her kids are pickier eaters than mine. :)