Soup, tonight it's whats for supper

Remember those beef commercials from years back, "Beef, it's whats for supper". I am kind of like that about soup. This happens to be beef vegetable barley soup, but any soup will do. The thing about soup is, there are a lot of vegetables in there, and no one seems to mind.

I like the vegetables cut uniform, that way you get a little of everything on your spoon. This beautiful quartet is added to the bottom of the 6 qt. crockpot.

Looks good already, but there is more.

I bunch of kale, also cut in an easy to manage size.


Here is a guideline of what I did for this soup, however soup is very easy to personalize. You can have meat, lots of meat or no meat. You can use different vegetables, or (gasp) no vegetables! You will notice that I do not put potatoes in soup, because I do not like the texture of them when the soup is thawed. But I do have a potato idea that I will share.

Layered beef vegetable barley soup

2 pounds lean ground beef, made into a large patty and browned well, set aside to cool.
1 red onion, diced
4 stalks of celery, diced
1 red pepper, diced
5 carrots, diced
1 bunch kale, diced
1/3 - 1/2 c barley
1 T homemade bay leaf seasoning
2 cloves garlic minced
2 t salt
1 16 oz can ready cut tomatoes, do not drain
beef stock base for approximately 2 quarts of stock

Place diced vegetables in bottom of crockpot, sprinkle with the barley and seasonings. Dice up your meat, add to crockpot. Add tomatoes and their liquid. Add stock to come within 1 inch of the top, cover and cook on high for 6 hours.

Yum, makes 6 qts of meaty dinner soup. This freezes well, and will be enjoyed again when time is tight.

Potato idea: I like baked potatoes. When we have baked potatoes, I always bake up more than we need for the meal. I like them pan fried the next day. This is great for soup night. Plan ahead and when you are having soup for dinner have a baked potato ready to pan fry, add that brown and tasty potato to the bottom of the soup bowl, ladle on your soup. Delicious.

Have a great day, and thanks for stopping by!

M