Hearty Beef Barley Soup

It's officially soup season and I could not be more excited. I have to admit, I have been kind of sad not having the crisp fall air and cool sweater weather days living in Oklahoma but today it finally happened, so what did I do? Well naturally I made two different kinds of soup to celebrate. (I know, I am kind of a nerd- but I don't even care).

This hearty beef barley soup is perfect for a cool fall or winter day. It tastes so good guys. It is hearty and meaty and still full of veggies so you can feel good about feeding it to your family. And barley- can we talk about this for a minute? Not only is it filling but it is packed full of antioxidants, vitamins and minerals and it aids in digestion.

When it comes to soups, I love all kinds and sometimes I have a hard time deciding what my favourite kind is, but beef barley has got to be up there in my top 3. I love a good brothy soup, but if creamy soup is your jam, check out my recipe for creamy mushroom soup with long grain & wild rice here. This recipe is easy and comes together quickly using just a handful of ingredients (most of which you will probably have on hand) so, bonus.

Recipe:
1 lb stewing beef
1 large spanish onion, chopped
3 stalks celery
1/2 bag baby carrots, sliced (this is what I had on hand- you can use 2 large carrots chopped as well)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 & 1/2 cup barley
3 tbsp tomato paste
1 Tbsp dried oregano
salt & pepper
1/3 cup flour
2 tbsp olive oil
10 cups beef broth

Directions:
1. Cut stewing beef into small pieces (think the size you would like to eat in a bite of soup) and place in a freezer sized ziploc bag.

2. Season meat liberally with salt and pepper. Add flour and shake until all of the meat is coated

** shaking the meat in salt and will add seasoning to the soup. Coating the meat in flour will allow the flour to act as a thickener to your soup. Although this is a broth soup, it is nice to have it a little thicker than the constancy of water, which is what adding the flour will do


3. In a large soup pot, add olive oil and meat. Cook until browned and remove from the pot.

4. In the same pot you just cooked your meat, add onions, celery and carrots and cook on medium heat until veggies are just soft (about 10 minutes- the veggies do not have to be cooked fully, as they will continue to cook and get soft as the soup simmers on the stove

5. Add the tomato paste, oregano and garlic and cook for 5 more minutes. (see picture on left)

6. Add the beef back into the pot.

7. Add beef broth and let come to a boil. Turn down to medium heat, cover and let simmer for 45 minutes to 1 hour (this will cook all the veggies and make sure the meat is nice and tender)

8. Add the barley and simmer for 1 more hour until the barley is fully cooked and all the flavours have had time to meld together.

9. Sprinkle with fresh parsley and serve with your favourite crusty bread or baguette.

10. Enjoy!