Vegetable Beef Soup

As the saying goes, "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach." Well, in this house, I've added another line. "The way to my man's stomach is through his wallet." :) For the first 6 months of our marriage, Seth insisted that he didn't like soup. Now, me, I'm a huge soup person, but I went a whole fall without any soup! So, I needed a plan. I finally convinced Seth to agree to a batch of vegetable beef soup. He'd had the recipe at my parents' house before, and he did like it because it was more on the stewy side than soupy. But, he was still a little apprehensive. Until he realized that we were able to stretch the soup to last several dinners in the week. Seth was happy about anything that can stretch our grocery budget :) Plus, he says it tastes pretty good ;)

This week has been rainy and gross, so I thought it was time to pull out the recipe for the cold season.

Ingredients:

-1 chuck roast, cubed

-med onion, diced

-6 small bouillon cubes

-1 C barley

-1 bag mixed veggies

-4 or 5 potatoes, cubed

-1 can diced tomatoes

-1 can tomato sauce

Fill a large pot 3/4 of the way with water. Add meat and onion, a little salt, a little pepper and several bouillon cubes.

Bring to a full boil and then turn down to a soft boil. Add 1 C barley.

Cook for 1 hour.

Add veggies, potatoes, tomatoes and sauce. Stir and check consistency. (Optional: 2 tbsp bacon grease)

Bring to real soft boil for 20 minutes or so.

Add more bouillon cubes to taste.

I also like to sprinkle Old Bay in my bowl, because it gives it a little spicy kick. Perfect for rainy and cold weather!