My wife started making this for me when I was in the Air Force and would have to grab lunch and go early in the morning and sometimes at night. We originally called it "Meatloaf Soup" because it started out as a leftover soup, but over the years it has become a "make from scratch" meal. I like this because I can literally make it with one burner or a hot plate. Note: In this instructable I will show preparation using multiple pots and a frying pan, but I usually cook the meat in one pot to keep the juices.

Your ingredients are:

1-2lbs of ground beef (or Turkey)
1 red bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
1 small onion or 1/2 of a large onion
1 head of garlic or 1 jar of roasted garlic
24-32oz can of diced tomatoes
1 box/can of beef stock (or Vegetable Stock)
1 cup of rice
Spices: Salt, Pepper, Oregano or Italian Spice, Basil Leaf or Powdered Basil, Cayenne if you like heat

Step 1: Brown the Meat in a Pot

Brown the meat in a pot (pan in picture but will work in a soup pot)

Make sure to get a good brown on the meat, although you'll have some cooking time when all ingredients are mixed together as the soup, you want to make sure the meat is cooked prior to introducing the liquid.

Step 2: Dice the Bell Peppers and Onion

Dice the bell peppers and onion

I like to dice these small, the onion and peppers are diced about the same time. I would like to say this makes it better but the truth is I only know how to dice one size and everything I cook gets cut that size. You can go as big or small as you like. I use white onion but any onion variety you like will work great.

Step 3: Dump the Diced Vegetables in Your Pot.

Dump the diced vegetables in your pot.

Go ahead and cook your meat and vegetables together for a couple of minutes, stirring it regularly during this time. Add your garlic, if you used fresh garlic and minced it you can add as much as you prefer, I use the whole head when I use fresh garlic. As I am quite lazy nowadays I use the roasted garlic I get in a jar from Kroger. If you use the jar I use about a tablespoon. Once that is done I stir the garlic in until I can really smell the garlic and peppers and my daughter says "what stinks?"

Step 4: Mix It All Together Now

Mix it all together now

Now put in your beef stock (or vegetable stock), diced tomatoes and spices in the pot with the onions, bell peppers and meat. Make sure to stir as you are putting your spices in, the oregano (or italian seasoning) tends to stick to the side the pot, so slosh some of the liquid around like a whirlpool to pull it off the sides.

Step 5: The Rice

The Rice

You can make this with or without rice. If you want to eat it with rice there are two options that I have tried. First to make rice and pour the soup on the rice, this is good if you want two different tastes/textures, but it requires another pot or to make microwave rice. I prefer to put the rice directly into the soup and cook it there. If you choose to cook the rice inside the soup you don't have to simmer the soup.

Step 6: Eat the Soup!

Eat the Soup now and freeze some for later.

Notes:

This is good soup for dorms and those in small living quarters because you can make it in one pot and if you needed to you could chop the vegetables on a plate or a make-shift cutting board.

My daughter made this while she was in college on a hot plate and froze it in her dorm fridge. I have eaten it like this two and it keeps well. I probably wouldn't push it much beyond a week to 10 days though. Use a short container if you have a dorm fridge so it will fit in the tiny freezer part.

The other thing that is great about this soup is if you add corn or black beans you can add depth to it. Additionally, if you use precooked chicken fajita meat instead of ground beef you will have a chicken fajita soup, just use chicken stock to make chicken fajita soup.

I hope you enjoy it.