Melissa's Beef Barely Soup Experiment

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 pounds boneless lean beef, cubed
• 1 beef soup bone (optional)
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 10 cups beef broth
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 3 onions, diced
• 8 stalks celery, chopped (one whole head)
• 5 carrots, diced
• 2 cup frozen green peas
• 500g medium pearl barley
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 2 teaspoons dried parsley
• Dash of Worcestershire sauce (& more to taste)

Directions:

1. Saute onions in soup pot with oil, until translucent. Add garlic, and beef. While beef is cooking add a dash of Worcestershire sauce. Cook until meat is nicely browned.
2. Add remaining veggies, beef & chicken broths, barely, soup bone, herbs to the pot. Add a couple dashes of Worcestershire sauce. Sitr. Top up with water, if necessary.
3. Bring to a boil, and cook on med-high heat for 1-2 hours, or until everything it tender, and soup is desired thickness. Add more water while cook, if soup gets dry (barely sucks up a lot of water).

Makes: ~20 cups

Tip: Instead of using actual broth, buy knorr broth powder or bouillon cubes, and add them plus water.

This is still an experiment, but a pretty yummy one.  My first time making it I realised I totally needed more beef broth than I added.  All that barely really exploded!  And without the beef broth to add flavour it was kinda bland. I ended up stirring in beef broth powder into every bowl of it I ate. Made it oh so much more enjoyable.  Also, this could totally work with ground beef.