Skip to main content
BEEF BARLEY VEGETABLE SOUP

A cold Saturday calls for SOUP!  It's 18 degrees right now and that is the high for the day.  But, that's what we get for living in Minnesota.  Nothing better on a cold day than hot soup.

This recipe comes from the back of a Quaker Quick Barley box.  My brother, Kerry, found it some years back and I've been using it since.  However, I just use the recipe as a guideline and make it up as I go along.  The recipe below is close to tripled of what is on the box.  Here is a link to the Quaker recipe: 

Ingredients:

2 lbs stew meat (or cheap steak cut into cubes, or hamburger)
1 can (14 oz) Whole Tomatoes (I chopped up into smaller pieces)
2 cans (10 oz) diced tomatoes with green chilies (this is what I used today because it we had it on hand; basically you need around 30 oz of tomatoes, whole or diced)
1 box Quaker Quick Barley
1/2 stalk celery, sliced
1 large onion
Beef Bouillon
2 lbs frozen veggies
12-14 cups water
Pepper
Salt
Minced Garlic
Garlic Salt
Onion Salt





In pot, brown meat with onion and minced garlic.  Add some salt, pepper, onion and garlic salt.  Drain (I ended up putting what I drained back into the soup because it was mostly water and it had a lot of flavor).


Stir in remaining ingredients except frozen vegetables.  Add bouillon to taste.  Cover; bring to a boil.  Reduce heat; simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.


Add frozen vegetables; cook about 10 minutes or until vegetables are tender.  Additional water may be added if soup becomes too thick upon standing.  I originally had 12 cups water in there, but added 2 more at this stage because it look a little too thick and it thickens when it's done and stands.  We will have leftovers and will freeze some and when we reheat it we will have to add some beef stock to thin it out again.


That's it - very simple!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

HAMBURGER GRAVY Being a gloomy Saturday, Jesse & I were too lazy to go out to the grocery store, so had to come up with a dinner with what we had on hand.  This is a favorite and is made often in our household.  So easy to make, but very tasty.  I never make this recipe the same way twice because I use whatever I have on hand.  The basics are ground beef, browned with onions and minced garlic.  Add some kind of liquid: beef broth, milk, cream of mushroom (with milk added), etc. Get it simmering and add a thickening agent.  This time we had no beef broth or bouillon, so used a brown gravy packet mixed with water and added a little chicken broth to that.  Also added some milk.  When you use just broth, it is a lighter gravy.  If you add milk and/or cream of mushroom, it is a little creamier.  You can even add a little sour cream and make it a little more like stroganoff.  Serve over egg noodles, rice, mashed potatoes, toast or ...
FIRE CRACKERS I got the recipe from here:  http://www.food.com/recipe/fire-crackers-423316 1 lb unsalted saltine crackers (4 sleeves) 1 cup canola oil 1 (1 oz) package ranch dressing mix 2 tbsp crushed red pepper flakes 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder Line crackers on ends (like dominoes) in an air-tight container. In a small bowl, mix oil, dressing mix, peppers and garlic powder.  Stir until ingredients are well mixed.  Continue to stir to prevent the peppers from settling on the bottom of the bowl. Spoon mixture over crackers, like drizzling icing on a cake. Close lid tightly and flip the container over every 5 minutes for 20 minutes.  Lightly shake back and forth to make sure all the crackers are coated.  Store in a Ziploc bag.  Will keep for about a week. Pretty tasty!  Jaqi & Jesse like them too!
<meta name="p:domain_verify" content="c339dc3c6b1f0a6733ee351d1b3ba2ec"/> SHERRY & JESSE'S KITCHEN Hello there! Jesse & have been married for 19 years and counting and have lived together for 22 years now.  We were 18 & 20 years old when we started out and learned a lot about life, love and other things along the way.  We have two kids - Jaqi, age 18 and JJ (Jesse Jr.), age 15. We live in central Minnesota, about an hours drive north of the Twin Cities.  We have a dog named Kirby (after the great Kirby Puckett).  We have a large extended family that lives close so lots of family coming around or us going to family functions. Since our first years together, we have loved cooking!  We have different styles, but after all these years, have learned to work well together in the kitchen.  We cook together a lot, but also work alone in the kitchen to make meals for the whole family. This blog is meant as a way to share the...