Beef Barley Soup

Well, snow changed our plans today. Shayna, Jason, and I were supposed to go to the farm show in Harrisburg but with the snow we thought it might be a bad idea. So, what to do on a snowy day inside? Make soup! And this beef and barley soup really hit the spot. (sorry, no pic)

Beef Barley Soup
- 1 1/2 pounds of stew beef cubes (found these at Giant on sale, I'm sure you can use other types of beef)
- 2 large onions
- 1/4 cup pearl barley
- 1/4 cup green split peas
- 3 large carrots, chopped
- 3 celery stalks, chopped
- 1 large leek, chopped
- beef bullion

In a stock pot add 1/2 onion chopped, stew beef cubes, and about 5 cups of water. Boil for 30 minutes or so. If beef cubes are bigger than bite size (mine were) take beef out of pot using a slotted spoon, let cool so you can handle the meat, chop into small pieces, trim off any fat, and add beef back to the pot. Chop the remaining onion and a half finely and add to pot. At this point it will look like there is A LOT of onions, but they cook down and really added flavor so don't worry :) Once the mixture comes to a boil add in about 5 more cups of water, barley and split peas (don't season the broth yet or the peas will not soften properly). Let this simmer for 30 minutes. Next add in the carrots, celery, leek, and beef bullion to taste (I think I used 3 teaspoons). You can also add salt or pepper. Let everything simmer for an hour and enjoy.

The recipe also called for 2 white turnips chopped, but the supermarket was sold out, so we just left them out. Next time we might add 1/2 cup of peas instead of 1/4 cup and chopped potatoes.