Old Fashion Vegetable Barley Soup

This old time soup recipe reminds me of my childhood. I grew up in rural Southern Indiana where my family operated an old-fashion general store. We sold everything from kerosene and gas to fresh sliced luncheon meats and cheeses. The center of this huge old building held a big old pot-bellied coal stove to provide heat. Vegetable Barley Soup reminds me of the soups, beans, pot roasts, etc that my mom would cook on top of this old stove. She had slow cooking down to a science long before crockpots were ever invented. Give this healthy, old-fashion soup a try. Maybe it will become a favorite of yours or bring back memories for you, too.

BARLEY VEGETABLE SOUP

This old-fashioned recipe is also a healthy one. Give it a try for an old-fashioned healthy, tasty meal. Just add a crusty whole-grain bread or muffin and you have a healthy meal!

In a stock pot, heat 2 tbsp oil and saute 2 medium chopped onions until transparent. Add: 2 cloves garlic, pressed or minced and 1/3 cup barley. Saute a for a few minutes.

Add to the stock pot: 1 cup diced carrots, 1 cup diced celery, 3 cups sliced mushrooms, 1 potato, scrubbed clean and diced with peeling left on, 8 cups water or beef or chicken stock--your preference, 1/2 tsp dried basil, 1/4 tsp dried thyme, 3 tbsp soy sauce, and 3/4 tsp seasoned salt. Bring mixture to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 45 minutes.

Add to soup: 2 small zucchini, cut in half lengthwise then cut into slices. Continue to cook until zucchini is tender. Season with salt, if desired, pepper, and cayenne pepper to suit your taste. After dishing soup into serving bowl, garnish with a dollop of sour cream, if desired.

Yield: 8 servings

Enjoy!

Beef Barley Vegetable Soup

A truly great soup for every occasion, beef barley vegetable soup is packed with protein, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals and fiber. Aside from being really good for you, this is an amazing tasting soup that can be served at any time during the day. This soup is a meal by itself, perfect served with bread and salad, or as a side to a sandwich or dinner offering.

Despite the long list of ingredients, this is a fairly easy dish to prepare. The beef roast and barley are slow cooked in a crock pot to bring out the flavors and tenderize the tougher cut of beef. For convenience, the recipe calls for frozen mixed vegetables. These can be swapped out for your favorite fresh vegetables such as cauliflower, broccoli, corn, and green beans. Most supermarkets sell great beef broth in 4-cup packages. Substitute one of these fine store bought products or homemade beef stock for the cold water and beef bouillon cubes and take this soup to a whole new level.

Cooks Notes: Substitute real beef stock for the water and beef bouillon, and 1 pound of your favorite fresh vegetables for the frozen mixed vegetables, if desired.

Beef Barley Vegetable Soup

Ingredients:
1 (3 pound) Beef Chuck Roast
1/2 cup Barley
1 Bay Leaf
2 tablespoons Canola or Vegetable Oil
3 Carrots, chopped
3 stalks Celery, chopped
1 Onion, chopped
1 (16 ounces) package Frozen Mixed Vegetables
4 cups Cold Water
4 cubes Beef Bouillon Cube
1 tablespoon White Sugar
1/4 teaspoon Fresh Ground Black Pepper
1 (28 ounces) can chopped Stewed Tomatoes
Coarse Salt, to taste
Fresh Ground Black Pepper, to taste

Preparation:

1. Add beef chuck roast to crockpot. Cover and cook on HIGH for 4 hours.

2. Add barley and bay leaf to crockpot. Continue cooking 1 hour.

3. Remove the beef roast, cool for 15 minutes. Cut roast into small bite-size pieces.

4. Discard bay leaf.

5. Set the beef pieces, beef broth, and barley aside.

6. Add canola oil to large stock pot. Heat over medium-high heat.

7. Sauté chopped carrots, chopped celery, chopped onion, and mixed vegetables until crisp tender.

8. Add cold water, beef bouillon cubes, white sugar, fresh ground black pepper, chopped stewed tomatoes, and beef, broth, and barley mixture

9. Bring soup to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer 15 minutes.

Beef, Roots and Barley Soup

One of my all time favorites is beef barley soup. I don't eat beef often but sometimes I crave the flavor and I know the B-12 found in beef is good for me. Combining it with a variety of colorful root veggies produces the most wonderful sweet and savory + healthy lunch or dinner. In addition to its fiber, barley is also a good source of niacin a B vitamin that provides numerous protective actions against cardiovascular risk factors. Eating a serving of whole grains, such as barley, at least 6 times each week is a good idea, especially for postmenopausal women with high cholesterol, high blood pressure or other signs of cardiovascular disease (CVD).
If you prefer not to eat beef this soup would be great with lamb, chicken or turkey.

Ingredients

1 pound stew beef, cut into small cubes

3 teaspoons olive oil

1 Tablespoon or a bit more flour

1 cup small diced white onion

(1 cup small diced peeled parsnips

1 cup small diced golden beets

1 cup peeled carrot, small diced

½ cup celery small diced

6 - 8 white button or cremini mushrooms, cleaned and sliced

8 cups low sodium beef or chicken broth-cold or room temp

1 or 2 cubes of high quality beef base

1/2 cup pearl barley

water as needed

I sprig fresh thyme

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Method

You can prepare this in a slow cooker if you have one. Just add everything to your cooker once you've browned the meat.

1. Heat a large skillet or pan-non-stick is easiest to clean-with 2 Tbls. olive oil.
Before adding the meat be sure that it is dry or you'll end up steaming the meat rather than browning it.

2. Add as much of the meat to the pan as will cover the bottom with no overlap of pieces. Again this will ensure that the meat browns and browning, or caramelizing, adds flavor.

3. Don't move the meat until one side is nicely browned. Then quickly add some salt and pepper and toss or stir the meat so it flips to another side. This does not have to be exact, just sauté the pieces til they are more or less all browned.

4. If you have meat left to do, sprinkle this batch with a bit of the flour, stir until the meat absorbs it, then remove meat to the pot you'll be cooking in.

5. Clean the pan with a paper towel, add the remaining oil, let it get hot and put in the last batch of meat. Repeat the above process.

6. Pour in the broth and barley. Stir well to move any pieces off the bottom.

7. Allow this to come to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer for 10 minutes.

8. At this point you can add the vegetables, thyme, beef base. Stir, turn up the heat, bring to a boil again, lower temp and simmer for 30-40 minutes.

9. Taste it after 30 minutes to see if the seasoning is right. If you want more salt, pepper or other dried herbs add them now.

Healthy Recipe - Chili Bean Ginger Barley Miso Soup Recipe

Go to www.thenaturalguide.com to download and print this delicious, nutritious vegetarian health food recipe. Produced by Larry Cook. To learn how to eat a health rejuvenating, organic, whole foods diet, read The Beginner's Guide to Natural Living.



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