Bri's Beef and Barley Stew

Bri's Beef and Barley Stew

water (about 1/2 your big pot)
1 1/2 pound cooked beef chunks (or cooked ground beef)
2 sliced carrots
2 stalks celery sliced
1/2 onion diced
1 tomato diced
2 potatoes (red or rustic work)
1/2 cup barley
1 can corn (or 2 ears with kernels stripped)
1 can tomato paste
1 TBS (or 3 cubes) beef bullion
1 bayleaf
1 TBS flour
1 tsp thyme (opt)
1/4 rosemary (opt)
salt and pepper to taste

Bring water to a boil in a big pot. While it comes to a boil, brown your meat. Add all the other ingredients to pot when water is bubbling and add browned meat. Take 1/4 water from the pot and put on your meat drippings with the flour. Stir until all the dripping come free of pan and add to soup. Boil for about 20 minutes or until you can easily poke carrots with a fork. (yes, it is meant to be very thick) Makes about 6-8 servings.This goes amazing with some home made soda bread!

The best thing about this is you can add or subtract anything you don't like. Soups are so diverse and hard to mess up. I don't really follow measuring. They pack a splendid vegetable punch and hydrate you as well. The left overs are great to warm-up in a microwave at work or for a snappy lunch.