Beef and Barley Soup

Beef and Barley Soup...Suzanne Brubaker

for January swap

Ingredients:
-1.5 lbs Beef Stew Meat (I usually get top round and just cut it into bite size pieces).  Sometimes when you buy stew meat at the grocery store you still need to cut it into smaller pieces.
-1 large red onion, chopped
-Appx 8 medium sized carrots, peeled and sliced
-3-4 stalks of celery, sliced
-1.5 cups frozen corn (or you could use a 14.5 ounce can of canned corn)
-1 tsp parsley flakes
-1/4 tsp black pepper
-1.5 Tbsp “Better Than Bouillon” paste or 3 cubes of beef bouillon (can add more to taste if you like)
-3 garlic cloves minced
-1 14.5 ounce can tomato sauce
-3/4 cup barley (pearled)
-5 cups water

This recipe is really simple to make!  All you do is throw all your ingredients in the crockpot and cook for 3-4 hours on high or 6-8 hours on low.


If Making As Freezer Meal:
When I made this as a freezer meal, I put all the ingredients in except for the 5 cups of water.  On the outside of the bag I just wrote the date, the name of the meal, and “add 5 cups water”.  Make sure to push out any extra air in the bag to avoid freezer burn.  The day before you want to make this meal take it out of the freezer and allow to defrost in your fridge.  The morning/afternoon you want to eat the meal for dinner just put everything in your crockpot, add 5 cups water, and cook for 3-4 hours on high or 6-8 hours on low.