Easy Beef and Barley Soup

This soup is super easy and can also be made in a crock pot.  Perfect for a cold winter day.

Looks like a lot of ingredients but there really aren't that many.

I browned the beef tips and onion in a little bit of the beef broth.  The original recipe calls for using a chuck roast and cutting it up.  I like the beef tips because there's less work.  It also said to brown the meat and onions in olive oil.  I decided beef broth would work just as well and not add any oil to the soup.

It browned up really well.

Add 2 32 oz cartons of beef broth ( Progresso has a no fat no sodium version that works well in soup).  To the broth add some chopped carrots.

Add frozen corn.

Add frozen peas.  Let this simmer for several hours so the carrots will cook and the meat will get very tender.

Add barley.  The barley that I had was instant barley so I waited until the end to put it in so that it would not get gummy.  If you have regular barley you can put it in earlier.

Doesn't that look good.  It simmered for most of the day.  I added some parsley and salt and pepper to the soup as well.

Beef Barley Soup Recipe

1/2 cup chopped onion
2 teaspoons finely chopped garlic
2 lbs chuck roast or beef tips
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
2 medium carrots chopped
1 1/2 cups frozen sweet peas
1 cup frozen whole kernal corn
1 cup uncooked pearl barley
2  32oz cartons beef broth