Hearty Beef Barley Soup

It is still very cold in these parts, and snowed again a little bit yesterday.  When it's cold outside I hibernate inside where it's warm and cozy.  So on that note, it was a great day to make a pot of soup and I got to work in my kitchen.  My kitchen is my favorite place to be, it's my fun, creative play space! 

I had all of the ingredients for my soup in my pantry, I keep everything stocked up at home.  There is one thing that bothers me most when I'm cooking, if I need an ingredient, I don't have it, and I have to stop what I'm doing and run to the store and get it.  Puts a damper on cooking.

I do have to say my soup did turn out fabulous! I served it up with a crusty sourdough bread. The hubby was in love all over again and enjoyed every last spoonful of my tasty winter meal.

Recipe Below.

A few simple ingredients for a wonderful hearty soup.

I dusted my beef with a little flour to thicken the soup a bit.

Brown the meat in olive oil.

Looking good.

Beef broth in along with my veggies.

Thyme, bay leaf, salt and pepper gives a special flavor to my soup.

Medium grain barley. 

No pre-cook on the barley, just drop it in the soup and let it cook in there.

And there it is, the tastiest bowl of winter soup I have had in a long time.  It's filling, warms you and the belly and is also good for you, what more could you ask for.  ENJOY!

Hearty Beef Barley Soup

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 1/2 lbs beef cubes, cut into small pieces

1/3 cup flour

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon garlic powder

2 32 oz. containers beef broth, can also use stock, I use low salt

2 large carrots, diced

2 large stalks celery, diced

1/2 large onion, diced

1 small can sliced mushrooms, drained, can use fresh if you like

3 large cloves garlic, minced

2 teaspoons thyme

3 large bay leaves

2/3 cup barley

Instructions

Heat oil over medium high heat in a large Dutch oven.  In a resealable bag add the beef, flour, salt, pepper and garlic powder.  Shake the bag until all the meat is coated.  Add meat to the heated oil in the Dutch oven.  Brown the meat until all sides are seared.  Add the beef broth, carrots, celery, onion, mushrooms, garlic, thyme and bay leaves.  Cover and simmer on medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 45 minutes. Stir in the barley and cook for another 30 minutes until the barley is tender.  Serve with a crusty bread. 

 

Simple Dinner

I was on a trip to the grocery store, and realized I forgot to take something out of the freezer for dinner, and thought I would pick something up that was easy to cook.  As I was passing the meat department, I was looking at beef, these little babies caught my eye.  When I saw they were Filet Mignon, my curiosity peeked about the price.  Now, I usually don't go near this cut of meat, too expensive for my pocket book, but what I really wanted to see was the price, and daydream about how the other half lives who can afford this meat.  Well, to my surprise these 2 cuts of beef were only $8.98, and yes that was for both of them!  They were the portion size that you would get in a restaurant.  It truly was my day because I only needed 2 of them.  I couldn't believe the price, so I checked to see if my eyeglasses were clean, they were, so I took them home with me.

I made a simple dinner that night, you don't need much to go along with Filet Mignon.  It was raining, so instead of putting them on the grill outside, I used my grill pan inside.  I added 1 tablespoon of olive oil and 2 tablespoons of butter and heated the pan over medium-high heat until the butter melted.  Salt and peppered both sides of the meat, and got them grilling.  Then I added a small box of baby bella mushrooms into one side of the pan.  After I got nice grill marks on one side of the meat I turned both pieces to the other side.  Toss those mushrooms so they get nice and brown.

These were restaurant quality in looks and taste.

I served my simple dinner with a tossed salad and Parmesan cheese crisps sprinkled on top.  

This whole meal, including the salad, cost about $7 per person, it certainly beats the restaurant prices and was just as good!  So we ate our meal, with a glass of wine, joking to "please pass the Grey Poupon".  It was fun until we were done eating.  Reality sets in fast, dishes and cleanup had to be done, no maid service, oh well..........

Roasted Creamy Portobello Mushroom Soup

Another frigid day here in the eastern part of the country, it's only 3 degrees, YIKES!  I think this is great homemade soup weather, no matter how you slice it.  Today I gave mushroom soup a try, took some basic ingredients and put a twist on them to make this delicious Roasted Creamy Portobello Mushroom Soup.  Recipe below.
  To print recipe, click, highlight and print.

Some basics and a few things to turn up the volume of the soup a little bit!  It's the Sherry baby!

Melt the cup of butter, this makes the broth rich tasting.

Dice the onion, mince the garlic and cook them both in the butter.

Now I got a little crazy and decided to roast the mushrooms, portobellos are meaty so it's easy to do.  Cut up any really big mushrooms, season them with salt and pepper, drizzle on a little olive oil and toss together. Bake in a 375 degree preheated oven for about 20 minutes.

Onions and garlic are tender, throw in some thyme, bay leaf and a little nutmeg, yes that's right just a little.  I also made my roux to thicken the soup. I scooped 3/4 cup of flour into a bowl then ladled just enough of the butter from the pot into the flour, to mix it into a paste.  

Toss back into the pot and whisk it into the remaining butter mixture.

It will become creamy like this with no lumps.

Add the stock, sherry and cream, and using an immersion (stick) blender, or a blender (but be sure to run hot water in the blender before putting anything hot into it so it doesn't shatter!)  Blend all together, so the broth is smooth.

When the mushrooms are done I strain them in a colander so the juice doesn't thin the soup.  Toss about 2/3 of them in the pot and reserve the rest.

Take that immersion blender again and smooth out some of those mushrooms.  When you are done, toss the remaining mushrooms in and leave them whole. 

Delicious, flavorful, creamy and rich Portobello Mushroom Soup.

Roasted Creamy Portobello Mushroom Soup

Ingredients

2 sticks of butter

1/2 large sweet onion, diced

3 big cloves garlic, minced

5 sprigs of fresh thyme, stripped

2 bay leaves

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

3/4 cup flour

3 lbs Sliced Baby Bella Portobello Mushrooms (3 - 16 oz containers)

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 - 32 oz containers vegetable stock

1/3 cup dry sherry, leave it out if you don't like it

1 - 32 oz container of heavy cream

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  In a large soup pot over medium heat, melt the two sticks of butter.  Add the onion, garlic, thyme, bay leaves and nutmeg.  Cook until tender but not brown.

In the meantime, spread the mushrooms out on a large baking sheet and season with salt and pepper, toss with the olive oil.  Roast in oven for 20 - 25 minutes until browned. Remove from oven and drain in a colander to drain all the juices.

Add the flour to a medium bowl and ladle some of the butter mixture from the soup pot into the bowl.  Mix enough into the flour to make a roux.  Add back into the soup pot and whisk it into the remaining butter until there are no lumps and it becomes smooth.

Take out the bay leaves and discard.  Add  vegetable stock, sherry and cream to the pot and stir until all is combined.  With an immersion blender or blender, blend until the broth is smooth.  Bring to a simmer over medium high heat.  You will have to continue stirring the soup so it does not stick. When the soup boils, reduce heat to a low simmer for 40-45 minutes, uncovered, stir it occasionally. 

Add 2/3 of the roasted mushrooms to the pot and with the immersion blender, chop them up. Toss in the remaining mushrooms, but leave them whole.  Cook for another 30 minutes, or until the soup thickens.

Makes about 12 servings.

A Lotta Meat and Mushroom Sauce

We love pasta in this house, and we eat a lot of it.  I try to find new ways of making pasta to keep it interesting.  It's hard to cook other meals when there is a vegan in the house, but pasta is always a good choice.  All I do is scoop out enough sauce for the vegan and add what I want to the rest of the sauce.   He will always eat pasta, but it has to have vegan sauce. I had a package of mushrooms to use, they were hanging out in the fridge, and some ground meat too.  I never make meat sauce, we almost always have meatballs/sausage in our sauce, so I switched it up a little bit and made this meat and mushroom sauce and it was delightful.  Recipe below.

I started my sauce first and got that cooking up on the stove.  Then I browned my meat, drain the fat off because you don't need that! Transfer to a bowl and set it aside.

 Saute those 'shrooms in some olive oil until they are nice and brown.

 Back into the pan and toss them together.

 Now this is some hearty meat sauce!  I take out a few ladles of just sauce for the vegan and added some of  the mushrooms, he loved it.

 Top your favorite pasta with this awesome meat sauce and grated Parmigiano - Reggiano cheese, MANGIA!

Homemade Meat and Mushroom Sauce

Ingredients

2 tablespoons of olive oil

6 garlic cloves, minced

2 - 28 oz cans of crushed tomatoes

1 tablespoon of Italian seasoning

2 teaspoons of oregano

1/4 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped

8 basil leaves sliced

2 teaspoons of onion powder

1 teaspoon of red pepper flakes, more if you like heat

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon of black pepper

2 teaspoons of sugar

1 lb. ground meat

1 teaspoon of olive oil

1 - 8 oz. package of sliced portobello mushrooms

1 - 1lb. box of your favorite pasta

Directions

In a large saucepan over medium high heat, heat the olive oil then add the garlic.  Cook for 30 seconds, stirring so the garlic does not burn. Reduce heat to medium and add the tomatoes, Italian seasoning, oregano, parsley, basil, onion powder, red pepper, salt, pepper and sugar. Continue to cook stirring occasionally.

While the sauce is cooking, add the ground meat to a frying pan and cook until completely brown.  Drain the fat off, I use a colander, it makes it easier.  Transfer the meat to a bowl.  Add the one teaspoon of olive to the same pan and cook the mushrooms until they are golden brown.  If you have a vegan in the house, ladle out some of the sauce and toss with some of the mushrooms before combining with the meat. Toss the meat back into the frying pan and combine with the mushrooms.  Add all the meat and mushrooms to the sauce Cook the meat and sauce together for one hour.  In the last half hour of cooking, start a pot of salted water to cook your favorite pasta.

A Flash In The Pan

I took a trip to Trader Joe's (I love that store!) and to my local Wegman's the other day for fruit, got side tracked, and came back with some interesting things to eat.  I found these Ahi Tuna Steaks at Trader Joe's and thought I would give them a try.  They are fairly easy to cook, although I DO NOT like mine raw in the center, no raw fish for me thank you.  I cooked them for about 4 minutes on each side, in a frying pan with a little olive oil, salt, pepper and fresh thyme, that was it, and they were fabulous!

 I served Polenta with my Ahi Tuna Steaks, also from Traders Joe's.  This is the first time I have tried this.  I bought it in a roll, you can also make it from scratch.  I sprayed my grill pan with a little cooking spray, sliced down the Polenta, seasoned it with salt and pepper, and grilled it until it had nice marks on both sides.

I topped my Polenta with a store bought Pesto that I got at Costco.  They have the best Pesto!  It's in their refrigerated section, check it out.  You can also use the Pesto on pasta, drizzled over a caprese salad, or spread on a panini.  It has many uses, go crazy with it!

I picked up this ready to use mix of  Baby Bok Choy, Shitake Mushrooms, Garlic and Ginger at Wegman's.  It's pre-washed and ready to use.

 I sprayed my frying pan with cooking spray and sauteed the garlic and ginger, then added the mushrooms.  Add the Bok Choy last. 

 Cooked the Bok Choy until it was wilted, then I added a little more flavor with 1 tablespoon of Savory Finishing Sauce from you guessed it, Wegman's.  

 Remember now I am on portion control, but this was my dinner and it tasted AWESOME! A flash in a pan and about 20 minutes, is all it took to prepare this great tasting food.