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I'm a dad and I have a vegetable beef soup recipe I keep in my head. (OK, what I actually do is recreate the recipe every time, never the same twice, but always good.) It goes something like this:

Dad's Vegetable Soup

6-8 slices bacon or 1/4 pound salt pork, rind removed and cut into quarter inch "matchsticks" (optional, substitute 2 T vegetable oil if you prefer)
1 pound beef, chuck or round, cut into one inch cubes
1 medium onion
1 quart beef broth (add a cup of red wine if you like)
2 japone dried peppers
2-3 bay leaves
1-3 cloves garlic, crushed
3 cups (more or less) diced vegetables (the more kinds of veggies, the better) or 1 pound frozen mixed vegetables
1/2 cup barley (optional, or substitute rice or pasta)

Fry bacon or salt pork in iron dutch oven over low heat until crisp. Remove pork.

Brown beef cubes in bacon fat over medium high heat. A little more. Getting nervous about burning it? Just a little more. Remove beef, reduce heat to low and add onion to bacon fat. If you are using oil, add 1/2 t salt. Sweat the onion until it starts to caramelize.

Add broth, return beef, add japones, bay leaves and garlic. Turn heat to high, bring to boil and lower heat to simmer. Simmer for a couple of hours. If during simmering or until serving it seems to need more liquid, add more broth or water.

Add vegetables and barley (or substitute). Turn heat up. Bring to boil. Reduce to simmer for 20-30 minutes.

The bacon can be crumbled and that or the "matchsticks" used to garnish each bowl of soup.

Serve with a hearty bread that will sop up a lot of broth.