This post is sponsored by my friends at Red Gold Tomatoes, but all opinions expressed are my own – just as always. Thanks for supporting the brands that support me and my family.

Certain dishes are just nostalgic. One bite and they immediately take you back to a specific place and time. Goulash is one of those dishes for me. A spoonful transports me back to my mom’s kitchen with blue formica countertops. I can almost feel my legs swinging under me as I belly up to the oak dining table – stained with faded traces of paints and inks from various school and craft projects. Dad refinished the table at some point, but one end still bears the lightened spot where I spilled some nail polish remover when trying to get a price tag off of something one time.

You know, kitchen tables can tell us a lot about our families. The well worn, imperfect ones have the most to share.

As the cooler weather comes, we turn to hearty, stick-to-your ribs soups and stews to fill our bellies and perhaps provide a little comfort. So, turning my m om’s traditional American goulash recipe into a hearty soup seemed like the perfect idea.

This tomato-based soup is filled with browned ground beef, whole kernel corn, onions, garlic, and tender elbow macaroni.

There is tons of tomato flavor in this dish because I use diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, and tomato paste. And since it’s the primary flavor, I recommend you use the good stuff. Red Gold Tomatoes are steam packed fresh to preserve the true tomato taste. They don’t have the “can” taste you can find in other canned tomatoes. So they are perfect for this dish.

There’s nothing artificial in these tomatoes. They’re picked when they are vine-ripe-red so there’s no need for artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives. Red Gold Tomatoes values family, and are grown and canned on Midwest family farms.

Another thing that I just love about this recipe, it’s an easy and affordable way to feed a big family. This recipe makes a ton. I got 4 1/2 quarts out of this recipe, so it’s great if you’ve got lots of hungry mouths to feed.

And like so many tomato-based dishes, this recipe is one of those that’s even better the next day. So it’s perfect for leftovers and freezes pretty well, too. Just be aware that the pasta can get mushy when it’s been frozen, but the flavor is still amazing.

Mom always topped her Goulash with shredded cheddar cheese, so that’s an important part of the flavor to me. That’s why I add it to this soup as well. But you can certainly leave it off if you’d like.

Corn has always been a part of Mom’s Goulash, but I don’t often find it in other recipes. I love the little pop of sweetness it gives each bite. That said, you can use it, swap it for another favorite veggie, or leave it out completely.