How to Make Beef Barley Vegetable Soup

During the cold winter months, I like to make a lot of homemade soups and stews for my family. This recipe was given to me by my best friend 10 years ago and it was her grandmother's recipe.

Since my family only consists of 4 family members, I will make the recipe and we will eat half of the soup for dinner that night. I will freeze the other half in a freezer container for a future meal. If you are freezing any of the soup, make sure you leave a 1/2" head space in your freezer container to allow for expansion during the freezing process. The soup will keep for up to 9 months in your freezer.

Beef Barley Vegetable Soup

1 1/2 lbs. lean ground beef

6 cups tap water

3 beef bouillon cubes

2 cups carrots, sliced

1 1/2 cups onions, coarsely chopped

1 1/2 cups celery, coarsely chopped

1/2 cup green pepper, chopped

1/3 cup barley

1 teaspoon table salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

2 bay leaves

1/4 cup catsup

28 ounce can crushed tomatoes with juice

8 ounce can tomato sauce

Note: You can substitute the beef bouillon cubes with 3 teaspoons of instant beef bouillon if desired.

In a large frying pan, brown your lean ground beef until it's no longer pink. Drain the grease and set aside. In a large 5 quart stock pot, combine all of the above ingredients together in the order that they are given in the recipe. Bring soup to a full boil and then reduce heat and simmer for approximately 60-70 minutes. (or until the vegetables are tender.) Remove bay leaves before serving.

This recipe will yield approximately 10 servings.

Shelly Hill has been working from home in Direct Sales since 1989 and is a Manager with Tupperware. Shelly enjoys cooking and baking for her friends and family members. You can visit Shelly online at http://www.workathomebusinessoptions.com or visit her Shakin 'N Bakin Recipe Blog at http://wahmshelly.blogspot.com