The new Grandmas are making a hearty vegetable beef barley soup for the new parents.

It is still a bit cold in Calgary but the sun is shinning and the new Grandma's are keeping busy helping out where we can. This is a soup that we are making that is both nutritious and hearty for a cold winter day and perfect for the new parents when they are busy with the baba.

Grandma Karen making the soup with Gama Miriam

Ingredients:

3 tbsp. olive oil 

700 gr of beef (today I am using already cut up beef stir fry to make the process a little easier)

1  yellow onion - diced small

4 stocks of celery - diced small

2 garlic cloves

4  carrots - diced small
1 cup diced tomatoes

1 cup barley

2 tsp. italian seasoning

900ml beef soup stock

salt & pepper to taste

Grandma Karen clearing off the deck on this beautiful sunny day

first saute on the stove top

then add everything else into the slow cooker

Directions:

On the stove top first:
Add oil to your soup pot and heat up the pan first.

Saute beef first and then add onions, garlic, celery until the onions are semi-transparent.

Add tomato paste and seasonings to deglaze the pan. Cook only until the tomato paste is mixed in.
Turn off the heat and now all of the above goes into the slow cooker for the afternoon.

Continue to cook in the slow cooker:

Add carrots, beef stock, diced tomatoes, & barley to the slow cooker first.
Then pour in all the contents from your beef and onion soup pot and stir well.
Add salt & pepper to taste.
Cover the slow cooker and leave for 5-6 hours to cook on high.

Miriam's FOODSAFE Tips: always store leftover soup in the fridge as soon as it has cooled down enough. Never leave leftovers cooling out of the fridge for more than 2 hours as this will encourage those pathogenic microbes to grow and could cause food borne illness.