Quick n' Hearty Vegetable Barley Soup

Tonight's dinner was another catch-all of leftovers from the fridge! JD should be impressed... I know my parents were! I do believe I've previously mentioned just how much I despise leftovers.  The thought of re-heating food truly irks me.  Though, leftovers don't seem to bother me so much when they're incorporated into other recipes! Score!

I thought of the idea as I browsed the aisles of the grocery store last night as I entertained the idea of cleaning out the fridge before garbage night.  

Quick n' Hearty Vegetable Barley Soup

from the back of the Quaker® Quick Barley box

Ingredients

• 1/2 lb. Lean ground beef
• 1/2 c. Onion, chopped
• 1 clove Garlic, minced
• 5 c. Water
• 1 can (14 1/2 oz.) Unsalted, whole tomatoes (undrained, cut into pieces)
• 3/4 c. Quaker® Quick Barley
• 1/2 c. Celery (chopped)
• 2 cubes Beef Bouillon
• 1/2 tsp. Dried basil, crushed
• 1 Bay leaf
• 1 pkg. (9 oz.) Frozen mixed vegetables

Directions

In a 4-quart saucepan or Dutch oven, brown meat.  Add onion and garlic; cook until onion is tender. Drain. Stir in remaining ingredients except frozen vegetables. Cover; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add frozen vegetables; cook about 10 minutes or until vegetables are tender.  Additional water may be added if soup becomes too thick upon standing. Yields 8 (1 cup) servings.

Now, my modifications!

I opted to prepare my version in the morning before work in the crockpot, of course!

In an attempt to use up the items overflowing from my fridge, I made quite a few substitutions... 

They are as follows:

Instead of the 1/2 lb. ground beef, I used the remainder of a roast I had in the fridge from a meal earlier last week.  I simply cut it into small pieces.  Also, I didn't have any fresh onion, so I used a bit of Onion Onion® from the Tastefully Simple® line-- though I'm quite sure you'd get the same result by using a bit of Onion Salt.  I replaced the clove of garlic with a tablespoon of minced garlic spice, and replaced the can of whole tomatoes with half a pint of cherry tomatoes (halved) which I had in the fridge. Instead of the beef bouillon cubes, I used a large can of beef stock and reduced the amount of water to only 3 cups.  I had no frozen mixed vegetables, so I used half a package of baby carrots (whole), approximately 5 stalks of celery (chopped) and half a can of corn (again from the fridge).  I then added salt and pepper to taste.  I omitted the bay leaf, but used the Quaker® Quick Barley and basil, as instructed above.  I combined all of these ingredients in the crockpot and let it cook on the low setting for 8-10 hours.  

Honestly, the soup was SO scrumptious.  It was the perfect meal for a cold, snowy, Monday night.  I will definitely be making this recipe again! It was very easy! And the best part... now, my fridge is empty! 

Verdict: Highly recommended.  

I'll have to try the original recipe to see what that is like, as well! :) ...maybe. 

Or, perhaps I will stick to my own???