1 pound ground beef
4 medium carrots -- scraped and cubed
4 cups potatoes -- peeled and cubed
1 small onion -- chopped
3 8 oz cans tomato sauce
4 cups water
2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons pepper
1/2 - 1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce

CROCKPOT: Put hamburger in crock and place in microwave and cook on full power for about 4 minutes. Take crock out and mash up hamburger with potato masher (the old fashioned kind, not the newer round kind); put back in microwave and heat on high for another 4 minutes, take out and repeat mashing process; return to microwave for another 2 minutes. I used hamburger that was 90% lean so there was really no fat to drain off. Put crock into the crockpot. Add carrots and potatoes. Put some of the water from the 4 cups in the blender and put the onion in there and chop it up; pour into crockpot. Pour in tomato sauce; use some of the remaining 4 cups of water to rinse out the cans and pour into soup. Add salt, pepper, and hot pepper sauce (I used 1 teaspoon of Louisiana Hot Sauce). Stir well. Turn crockpot on high and cook for about 3 hours on high. Reduce setting to low and cook for another 5 hours. Stir the soup often. IT IS WONDERFUL WITH CORNBREAD AND A GLASS OF MILK.

TOP OF STOVE: In a Dutch oven or large kettle, brown ground beef. Drain. Add potatoes, carrots, onion and tomato sauce. Stir in water, salt, pepper and hot pepper sauce; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 1 hour or until the potatoes are tender and the soup has thickened.

YIELD: 6-8 servings -- 2 quarts

Thanks to The Family Corner for providing this recipe to us.