Simplistic Borscht Recipe

INGREDIENTS:

• Meat, couple of pounds, either cubed roast meat or ground beef rolled into balls around 3/4"
• 1 large onion, chopped
• Jack's garlic sauce, about three tablespoons worth (or 2-3 garlic cloves)
• Walmart beets, 1 $2 batch, chopped with samurai kitchen knife; beets are hard to cut with ordinary knives
• Walmart sliced mushrooms, about $2 worth
• 2 1/2 or 3 of the 32oz containers of Swanson veggie broth
• 1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes
• 4 medium carrots, sliced into pieces about an inch long
• Four or five medium baking potatoes, chopped into pieces around 3/4 inch on an edge
• 1/2 of a red cabbage chopped up
• 1 or two bay leaves or equivalent in chopped pieces
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• Three tablespoons red wine vinegar
• Salt and pepper. Go light on the salt, people can always add more
• Sugar, about two teaspoons

Other things somebody might add (I didn't) would include black beans, pablano peppers etc...

Some people add parsley or dill for garnish and/or serve with sour cream

Brown the meat cubes/balls in the bottom of a stock pot with a bit of veggie oil (butter burns)

Add other ingredients and cook at reasonable heat for about an hour, stirring once in a while. On my stove-top this means put the stock pot on one of the large ceramic burners at level 3. My burners have levels: low, simmer, 2 3, 4, Medium 6, 7, 8, hi, off

The Japanese knife I mentioned is sometimes seen on FaceBook or forums for around $30 but can be had oni Ebay for more like ten or fifteen:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/354725587529

This recipe makes about six quarts of soup. The stuff strikes me as good and inexpensive, I can see why Eastern Europeans like it.

Other recipes for borscht are easy enough to find but many seem to involve more work than you'd think was necessary.