My first cooking success of 2007

[figmo]

I wasn't feeling well towards the end of the workday and had a sudden and severe craving for beef barley soup.

After work I went to Cosentino's just as they were closing and picked up some beef bones. Next I went to Long's Drugs to pick up some necessary pharmaceuticals, with a couple of fruitless stops at Trader Joe's and Whole Foods in hopes of finding more Emergen-C Lite with Glucosamine and Chondroitin (both places were out of stock).

The next stop en route to home was the Grocery Outlet, where I picked up two cans of chopped tomatoes, a two pound chub of ground beef, and a few things of lipstick that were on sale.

One more stop en route; the Safeway on the way, to pick up barley, frozen onions (they were even on sale!), and a package of carrot and celery sticks (I wanted as little work as possible, and I couldn't find them pre-chopped).

Next I went home and assembled the soup, sweating the vegetables in the soup pot while crumbling and browning the beef in another. I added garlic powder, pepper, and wanted to add a bay leaf, but it turned out Warren had thrown mine out (sigh). Oh well; at least I had the beef bone. I then filled the pot with water, added half the bag of barley, and simmered for a little over an hour.

After adding a touch of salt to taste, wow was that good soup! It almost took away my chills! It'll probably be even better left over.

Comments

Re: beef with barley soup

[figmo.livejournal.com]

I grew up too close to the Campbell factory to be able to stand any of Campbell's soups. They all have a common "funny" taste to me.