Thursday, January 19, 2012

Soup Weather

The windchill today dropped well below zero (-32 when we woke up this morning!), so it was a happy moment this morning when I remembered we had a big pot of homemade soup in the fridge that we made yesterday with my mom.

It was SO easy to make that I thought I'd share it here.  I'm no food blogger, but every once in a while I come across a recipe that I just have to share - usually because it strikes the perfect balance between simplicity/no-fuss and deliciousness.

It's my Grandma Mary's vegetable beef with barley soup, and it's the perfect choice for a cold winter day.


Ingredients
- onion, chopped
- 2 stalks celery, chopped
- beef chuck roast, about 3/4 lb, cut into small pieces (or short ribs or any soup meat you want to use)
- 1/2 cup barley
- one large can diced tomatoes (28 oz can I think!), plus one can full of water.
- one can great northern beans, drained and rinsed
- one package frozen mixed veggies of your choice (we used one with peas, carrots, corn, and green beans)
- 2 bay leaves
- salt to taste

Start by cooking the barley according to the directions.  Then saute celery and onion together in your favorite large dutch oven with a bit of grapeseed or canola oil until soft.  Add beef.  When beef is cooked, add the rest of the ingredients - the can of tomatoes (juice and all), plus the one can full of water, the beans, the (now-cooked) barley, the frozen veggies and the bay leaves.  Taste it and salt as you go (it will need a fair amount of salt).  Cook on medium for a while, and then just leave it on low all day long - the longer the better.  I think I left it on low for like 8 or 9 hours!  

We ate it this afternoon for lunch with some homemade bread and olive oil.  It was perfect for this chilly day, and Eliza loved it too!





2 comments:

Dawn said...

Talk about a coincidence!!! Yesterday night hubby & I were putting our meal plan together & wanted to try something new & we decided on soup. After shooting down mulitple ideas, we came across a recipe for the same exact soup! It's almost exactly the same. I think I will use yours though!

Ella said...

Ha! That's funny Dawn! Yeah, I think this one is a pretty common one. It's just SO easy and satisfying :)

Eliza's Stats

Birth: 8 lbs 5 ozs
Going home: 7 lbs 10 ozs
5 days: 7 lbs 13 ozs
2 months: 12 lbs 6 ozs
4 months: 17 lbs
5 months: 18 lbs 12 ozs
6 months: 20 lbs 13 ozs
9 months: 24 lbs 3 ozs
12 months: 26 lbs 13 ozs
15 months: 28 lbs
18 months: 29 lbs 3 ozs
2 years: 32 lbs
3 years: 34 lbs

Alice's Stats

Birth: 8 lbs 11 oz
2 Months: 13 lbs 10 oz
4 Months: 17 lbs 15 oz
6 Months: 20 lbs 4 oz