Recipe: Vegetable Beef and Barley Soup

I like to make a pot of soup in the winter time. Sure it takes several meals for me to eat it all, but that is good for the budget and also super easy for those nights when you get home and don't really want to cook.

It'll take you about a half hour to cut everything up and brown the meat, but then you're pretty much on autopilot after that.

Ingredients:

2 tbsp olive oil
1 lb stew meat
2 tbsp chopped garlic
1 onion (2 cups)

3 stalks celery (1 1/2 cups)
1 16 oz bag baby carrots (3 cups)
3 medium-sized potatoes

2 5.5oz cans tomato juice
1 tbsp sugar
4 beef bullion cubes

1 can corn (15 oz)
1 can peas (15 oz)

1 can crushed tomatoes (14 oz)
1 can stewed tomatoes (14 oz )

2 cups beef broth
2 cups water

This meal is prepared mostly in a slow-cook pot, although you will need a saucepan to brown the stew meat on the stove.

Begin with the stew meat. With the stewmeat I buy from the grocery store, I often find that the size of the cubes is too big for my liking, so I usually begin my cutting the cubes into smaller pieces. Once you are ready to begin browning the meat, place a saucepan over medium heat and add the 2 tbsp of olive oil. When the oil is warm, add the meat, and the garlic. While the meat is cooking, chop the onions and then add them into the saucepan, too. Cook until the meat is browned. (The meat doesn't have to be fully cooked and the onions may still be crunchy, but they'll cook through in the soup; just make sure that the meat gets to the proper color). Put the meat/garlic/onion mixture into the slow cooker.

While the meat is cooking, after you've chopped the onions, you may begin cutting the other vegetables. Cut the celery, carrots, and potatoes into bite-sized pieces and toss them all into the slow cooker.

Add the remainder of the ingredients. There is no need to drain the water from the cans of corn, peas, and tomatoes. The order in which the ingredients are added into the slow cooker is not important. Once you have at least some of the liquid ingredients added, you may turn on the heat.

Stir the entire mixture, and continue stirring it every 30 to 45 minutes as the soup cooks. It will be ready in about five hours.