Quick and Hearty Vegetable Barley Soup

My experience is that recipes from product boxes are invariably good; manufacturers want you to try them and use their product again and again.  Here’s one we like from the Quaker “Quick” Barley Box.  It’s convenient and uses ingredients most of us have on hand. 
I use whatever tomato product I have on hand, home-canned, Rotel, stewed tomatoes, salsa or the like.  I get a different flavor every time.  Any combination of vegetables you like that adds up to the 9 ounces can be substituted for the frozen mixed vegetables.  You can also use regular rice for the quick barley and cook it in the same time; however, barley is our favorite.  It’s whole grain, with a slightly nutty flavor and takes us right back to my grandmother’s kitchen.     I usually serve it with a serving of crackers or bread of some kind and a crisp salad with fresh fruit for dessert.   Today, cold and rainy, we had chopped salad, oatmeal muffins and a fresh pear.            
Quick and Hearty Vegetable Barley Soup
     ½      pound  Ground Beef
     ½      cup  Onion -- chopped
  1          teaspoon  Garlic -- minced
  5          cups  Water
  14 ½    fluid ounces  Canned Tomatoes
     ¾      cup  Quick Barley
     ½      cup  Celery -- sliced
     ½      cup  Carrots -- sliced
  2          teaspoons  Beef Base
     ½       teaspoon  Dried Basil -- crushed
  1          each  Bay Leaf
  9          ounces  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 vegetables are tender.
If soup becomes thick upon standing, add some additional water.

Yield:  "2 quarts" or 8 Servings

Cost 2015:  $5.86 or 74¢ per serving when ground beef is $3.29 per pound.

Per Serving: 128 Calories; 8g Fat (53.5% calories from fat); 7g Protein; 9g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 24mg Cholesterol; 123mg Sodium.  Exchanges: 0 Grain (Starch); 1/2 Lean Meat; 1 1/2 Vegetable; 1 Fat.

1 comment:

  1. I will be making this soup, I love barley in soup and my husband asked me to add it any time I make vegetable soup.

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