Beef and Barley Soup

By McLean

Ingredients

• 5 slices bacon
• 1 to 2 lbs. beef chuck roast or steak, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 2 large onions, chopped (about 2 cups)
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• 2 cans condensed beef broth
• 2 cups water
• 1 cup spaghetti sauce
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup regular barley
• 1 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon dried marjoram leaves
• 3 medium potatoes cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 2 medium carrots, sliced (about 1 cup)
• 2 medium stalks celery, sliced
• 1 (15 oz.) can stewed tomatoes
• 2 (10 oz.) package frozen green peas, broken apart (I used mixed vegetables) or peas and carrots
• 1 (14 oz.) can mushroom stems and pieces or one cup fresh mushrooms

Details

Servings 8
Cooking time 2mins

Preparation

Step 1

Fry bacon in a Dutch oven over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon and drain. Cook and stir beef pieces, onions and garlic in bacon fat in Dutch oven until beef is brown. Stir in broth, water, spaghetti sauce, barley, paprika, salt and marjoram. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat. Cover and simmer 1 1/2 hours.

Stir in potatoes, carrots, celery, tomatoes, frozen mixed vegetables and mushrooms (with liquid). Heat to oiling. Reduce heat. Cover and simmer until vegetables are tender, 30 to 40 minutes. Crumble bacon and sprinkle over soup.