Beef, Barley & Vegetable Soup

Sometimes during the winter months I start to feel like a hermit. I leave my house less, watch more online TV shows, drink an abnormal amount of hot beverages and basically live in track pants. I also tend to make more "comfort food" meals to enjoy on cold days. Now, this is not to say I am lazy... I am just not a fan of winter. Sure, looking outside at the snow and bare trees is awesome during December, but now at the end of January it is just getting old. Needless to say, spring is on its way, and with February just a day away I know that we still have about 8 weeks left of winter. That is a lot of cold days. 


So without further ado... I have a solution. One quick and easy recipe that will make it almost worth it to live in Canada, enduring the cold winter months, and owning more snow shovels than humanely possible.  Enter the 'Beef and Barley Vegetable Soup' (originally found here) recipe. It's delicious. Healthy. And makes for great leftovers. 


I first made this soup a couple of weeks ago when I was in a "don't know what to have for dinner" mood. It turned out great, and since it didn't require a whole lot of prep work, I loved it! 

Serves 8

Ingredients: 

1lb lean ground beef

1 small onion, processed or chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

10 baby carrots, processed or chopped

3 ribs celery, processed or chopped

1-14.5oz can petite diced tomatoes

1-14.5oz can cut green beans, drained

1 cup corn, fresh or frozen

58oz beef broth, divided (4-14.5oz cans)*

1/2 teaspoon dried basil

1 bay leaf

3/4 cup barley

salt & pepper

Worcestershire sauce

Directions:

1. Heat a large soup pot over medium high heat. Add ground beef, onion and garlic, and season with salt & pepper. Cook until beef is no longer pink. Add carrots and celery and continue to cook under carrots are tender, about 3-4 more minutes.

2. Add in tomatoes, green beans, corn, 3 cans beef broth, basil, bay leaf and barley. Season with more salt and pepper. Bring soup to a boil then place a lid on top, lower the heat, and simmer for 60 minutes, or until the barley is tender.

3. Add a couple dashes of Worcestershire sauce and season with more salt & pepper to taste before serving.

*If making ahead of time, you may need to add the extra can of beef broth before heating back up, as the barley will have soaked up the remaining broth.