Beef & Mushroom Barley Soup

I've been craving a hearty, beef and mushroom soup for.ever. Finally gathered all the ingredients together and started searching for a recipe. Could not find a single one that sounded like what I wanted to eat. Normally, I would start with someone else's recipe and modify it. This time I couldn't even find a good starting point. So I winged it.

What else was I supposed to do?

Beef & Mushroom Barley Soup

• 1 lb stew meat, cut into bite sized cubes (I prefer SMALL)
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 Tbs tomato paste
• 2 carrots, sliced into bite-sized pieces
• 1 - 16 oz package sliced mushrooms
• 6 cups beef broth
• 1/2 cup barley

1. Brown stew meat (I used 2 Tbs olive oil) in dutch oven or heavy bottom pan over medium-high heat. When meat is browned, add garlic and onions into the pot. Cook for about three minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. Stir tomato paste into beef and onion mixture, cook for another three minutes.
3. Add carrots and mushrooms into the pot, stir well. Reduce heat to medium and cook until mushrooms are done. Stir occasionally.
4. Pour in beef broth. Stir well, then add the barley.
5. Cook over medium-low heat for about two hours - until meat and vegetables are tender.

If you like a thicker soup, you can bring the soup to a boil then add about 2 Tbs corn starch mixed with water to thicken. I also added about 3/4 cup of heavy cream to my soup at the end. It was sitting in the fridge and I didn't want it to go to waste - the soup would have been fine without it.

~ Enjoy!

Egg Salad Sandwich.

In my quest for new and exciting recipes, sometimes I forget about the simple things. The comfort foods from my childhood that my working mom could throw together in a flash. Yummy food that we could make back in the day before the spice aisle at Kroger started looking an awful lot like an international market.

Old Fashioned Egg Salad Sandwich

• 1 slice homemade sourdough bread, toasted

• 2 eggs, hard-boiled and chopped
• 3 Tbs mayonnaise (or to taste)
• salt (to taste)
• paprika

Mix eggs and mayonnaise together. Butter toasted bread and top with egg salad. Sprinkle with salt (to taste) and paprika.


That's it. No onions or relish or pickled beets or anything fancy. Just eggs and mayo, with a little paprika to put a smile on your face. Personally, I like to make my egg salad sandwiches open face on a thick slice of buttered toast. There is nothing wrong with sticking your egg salad between two slices like a traditional sandwich. ;)


~ Enjoy!


Merissa at Little House on the Prairie Living hosts an Old Fashioned Recipe Exchange every Tuesday.  If you have a recipe to share you can link your blog post or you can post in the comments.  CLICK HERE to go to this week's exchange!

 

Go ahead, you know you want to look!

Hershey's Old Fashioned Hot Cocoa - from scratch

After a lame warm winter last year and a snow-less winter thus far this year, we finally have SNOW!  And snow means it's time for real, old-fashioned hot cocoa.  NOT the kind that comes from a can and is made with water.

This is the original recipe that used to be on the can of Hershey' cocoa. I was incredibly sad this morning when I saw that it's been replaced with a microwavable version.  This morning I am more thankful than ever for the world wide web!

Hershey's Old Fashioned Hot Cocoa

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
• Dash salt
• 1/3 cup hot water
• 4 cups (1 qt.) milk
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Miniature marshmallows or sweetened whipped cream (optional)

Directions

1 Stir together sugar, cocoa and salt in medium saucepan; stir in water. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil. Boil and stir 2 minutes. Add milk; stirring constantly, heat to serving temperature. Do Not Boil.

2 Remove from heat; add vanilla. Beat with rotary beater or whisk until foamy. Serve topped with marshmallows or whipped cream, if desired. Five 8-oz. servings.

The perfect end to a cold, wet morning in the snow! If you love good hot cocoa and have never made it this way at home, you really need to give it a try. So easy and SO much more delicious than canned!


~ Enjoy!


Merissa at Little House on the Prairie Living hosts an Old Fashioned Recipe Exchange every Tuesday.  If you have a recipe to share you can link your blog post or you can post in the comments.  CLICK HERE to go to this week's exchange!

 

Go ahead, you know you want to look!

Cheddar and Ale Soup

This recipe found me through a soup group I belong to on Facebook. I had every intention of following the recipe as written, but... There's always a but, right? The sausage was already thawed and I wanted a heartier soup. The potatoes weren't part of the original Ale and Cheddar Soup recipe, but after it was finished cooking I thought it really needed the potatoes for more bulk. So once again, my end product looks NOTHING like what it should have. :)

Yes, that's rosemary.  All out of thyme.  :p

Elizabeth's Ale and Cheddar Soup with Potatoes

Ingredients

• 1 ring Polska Kielbasa
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 teaspoon thyme, chopped
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 ~12 ounce bottle ale
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
• 2 medium potatoes, cooked, cut into cubes
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Cook the sausage in a pan over medium heat. (I added about 2 Tbs olive oil so it wouldn't burn.)
2. Add the onion and celery, cook until tender, about 10 minutes.
3. Add the garlic and thyme and cook until fragrant, about a minute.
4. Add the butter and let it melt and get all bubbly then sprinkle on the flour and let it cook until it starts to turn golden brown, about 2-3 minutes.
5. Add the ale and broth, stir well and let cook for 10 minutes.
6. Turn heat down to medium low and a dd the cream, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, and cheese. Cook until the cheese has melted without bringing it back to a boil.
7. Season with cayenne, salt and pepper to taste and enjoy.

Honestly, I thought it was just okay and would be much better if I would have used bacon. Of course, with bacon, it would have taken a lot longer to make and the small sacrifice in flavor was worth the time I saved frying the bacon. The rest of the family LOVED it and had seconds.

~ Enjoy!