Place a large, heavy-bottomed stockpot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Drop in the 1 ½ pounds of lean ground beef and the diced yellow onion.

Cook for 6 to 8 minutes, using a firm wooden spoon to continuously break the beef apart into small, uniform crumbles, until the meat is thoroughly browned and the onions are soft and translucent.

Stir in the minced garlic and cook for exactly 60 seconds until highly fragrant. Safely tilt the pot to ladle out and discard any heavy pooling grease, then return the vessel to the stove burner.

Pour the canned diced tomatoes with their juices, condensed tomato soup, and beef broth directly into the pot with the beef. Use your wooden spoon to firmly scrape the bottom of the pot, dissolving all the savory, caramelized browned meat bits back into the liquid baseline.

Stir in the dried thyme, bay leaves, frozen mixed vegetables, black pepper, and optional white sugar.

Bring the soup up to a rolling boil over medium-high heat, then immediately reduce the flame to low. Clamp a tight lid over the top and let it simmer gently for 35 to 40 minutes, allowing the vegetable structures to soften and the savory herb oils to fuse completely into the broth.

While the soup simmers, bring a separate medium pot of heavily salted water to a boil on your stovetop. Drop in the elbow macaroni and cook according to the package directions until al dente. Drain the pasta completely and set aside.

Lift the lid from the stockpot and discard the bay leaves. Taste the broth and adjust with a pinch of additional salt and black pepper to your preference.

Stir the pre-cooked elbow macaroni directly into the hot soup matrix right before serving, allowing the noodles to warm through for 2 minutes. Cooking the pasta separately and adding it at the end prevents the starches from soaking up all your savory broth during storage. Ladle hot into deep bowls.