Beef and Barley Soup

We're heading into Week 2 of October Unprocessed and things are going well. As part of this challenge, we decided to try some new foods, specifically grains. The first new food we tried was barley. I looked for a few recipes online and got an idea of how I wanted to cook it. Beef and Barley Soup seemed like the easiest route and I could use up some stuff from the freezer!

1 1/2 lb chuck steak (fat trimmed and cut into small pieces)
3 c beef stock
2 c sliced carrots
2 stalks celery, sliced
1/2 c peas
1/2 a medium onion, diced
1 c quick barley
Rosemary
Thyme
Salt
Pepper

I sauteed some of the trimmed fat from the steak in my big pot to get the flavors started, then removed the fat and browned the steak pieces and onion. Next, I added the stock.

( I had grabbed a container of what I thought was beef stock from the freezer, but when I went to open it, I noticed it said turkey stock. At that point it was too late, so I went with it! It still turned out great.)

When the stock started to boil, I added in all the veggies and seasonings.

The peas and carrots were semi frozen, so I let it simmer for a bit-maybe 20 minutes-then brought it back up to a full boil and added the barley. 

Finally, put the lid on and let it boil on low heat until the barley is tender.

The barley absorbed most of the liquid, so at this point, it wasn't really a soup anymore. Either way, we all loved it! Barley will be making its way onto our menu again. 

I was able to use carrots from the garden that I had frozen, turkey stock from our turkeys we raised, rosemary and thyme from our garden that I had dried, and peas from Husk-a local company that processes Indiana grown veggies. If you're in Indiana, I highly recommend checking out some Husk products!