Recipe sharing is a wonderful thing.

Today has been a cloudy rainy day so tonight I made Autumn Soup. The first time I had Autumn Soup was December 13, 1995 at a Christmas progressive dinner for our Relief Society. Virginia Chase made it, and it was wonderful. The recipes for all the food that night were compiled in a booklet and shared with the women at our church. I adopted several recipes from that collection, and for the last fifteen years my family has enjoyed Virginia's Autumn Soup on cold winter nights. Every time I make it I think of Virginia, and her husband LeRoy (neither of which I have seen in years) and all the other women in that ward, and how each home we visited that night was warm and welcoming, and the friendships that were as delicious as the food.

No one notices the crowd that gathers in my kitchen to keep me company while I brown and dice and saute. When all the ingredients are in the pot, I shelve the booklet and my guests slip away. After the walk down memory lane, I serve the soup to my family and they devour it. Thanks for the walk tonight Virginia, and thanks for the recipe.

Autumn Soup
1 lb ground beef
1 med onion diced (1 cup)
4 cups water
1 cup cut carrots
1 cup diced celery
1 cup cubed potatoes
2 tsp salt
1 tsp beef bullion
1/4 tsp pepper
1 bay leaf
1/8 tsp basil

Brown ground beef. Add onion to beef and cook until tender. Stir in remaining ingredients and heat to a boil Reduce heat and simmer for 20 min. Serves 6.