We have been soup fools this winter, and this is one I’ve made a lot. This is a great vegetable-clean-out-day soup, you can put anything in it and it’s good. Modified from the recipe on the Quaker Quick Barley box.
1/2 lb lean ground beef
1/2 c chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
5 c water
1 can (14.5 oz) petite diced tomatoes *
3/4 c Quaker Quick Barley *
1/2 c sliced celery
1/2 c sliced carrots
2 beef bouillon cubes (or 2 tsp granules)
1/2 t dried basil, crushed
1 bay leaf
1 9 oz pkg frozen mixed vegetables
In a 4 quart saucepan or Dutch oven, brown meat. Add onion and garlic, cook until onion is tender. Drain. Stir in remaining ingredients except frozen vegetables. Cover; bring to a boil Reduce heat; simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add frozen vegetables; cook about 10 minutes or until veggies are tender. Additional water may be added if soup becomes too thick upon standing. Makes 8 1-cup servings.
*I usually use the petite diced tomatoes with green chiles, but all I had was tomatoes with cilantro and lime juice.
*I was out of Quick Barley, so I made regular barley (1/2 c dry) and dumped all of it in.
*I forgot that I used all my frozen mixed vegetables for chicken pot pie, so I used a frozen mix of broccoli, cauliflower, & carrots, plus some peas that needed to be used, and everyone still loved it.
