Beef, Mushroom & Barley Soup

I kinda just threw this one together over the weekend and it turned out a success! Give it a try. Don't be intimidated by the length of this recipe. A lot of it is just tid bits of info. The soup is super easy to put together!

Beef, Mushroom & Barley Soup

1# ground beef
8 oz. button mushrooms, sliced
1 cup barley*
2 large leeks, sliced
1 carrot, sliced or diced ;)
1 garlic clove, diced
4 cups beef broth
3 cups chicken broth
1/4 cup cooking sherry
10 black peppercorns
1 bay leaf
1 tsp dried thyme

* The night before you make the soup, place one cup of barley in a pot with one cup of cold water and 2 tbsp of apple cider vinegar. Let it sit overnight until you are ready to use the next day. When you are ready to use it, drain the water and rinse off the barley. Doing this helps 'rid' the barley of Phytic acid. Phytic acid blocks mineral absorption in your intestinal tract...so, in laymen's terms, buy soaking before eating (minimum of 7 hours), you are now allowing your gut to absorb all the good vitmains and minerals. Click here for a better understanding of Soaking Grains!

Ok, now onto the soup!

1. Cook your ground beef in your dutch oven or whichever pot you use to make soups in. I used grassfeed beef so it required a tad of olive oil while I cooked it. Once finished, remove from pot.

2. Add in more olive oil and 1 tbsp of butter then add your leeks* to the pot to cook.
 * A word on leeks! Because of the way they grow, leeks have a tendency to have dirt in them. So, slice them and throw them into a bowl of water to rinse the dirt out. Place them on a towel to dry a tad, then into the pot they go. I sliced the white ends of the leeks to about half way up the green end.

3. After the leeks have started to cook down - 10 minutes or so - add in your carrot, garlic and mushrooms. You will probably need to add more olive oil and butter - the mushrooms will soak it up quickly. Especially if you use fresh, versus canned, 'shrooms.

4. While your veggies cook down to a soften & translucent state, gather your peppercorns, bay leaf & thyme. I wrapped them up in some cheesecloth and tied with cooking twine so I could fish them all out when the soup was done. Fun side note, hubby didn't know it was in there and when he helped himself, he ladled the herb baggie into his soup. When I realized what he did, I had to interrupt his lunch to fish it out of his bowl - classic! He was mortified!!

5. After your veggies have cooked down, deglaze the pan with the cooking sherry and scrape up all the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Then add in your beef & chicken broths and bring soup to a boil. Drop in your herb bag too!

6. Once soup comes to a boil, take it down to a simmer and let it simmer about 45 minutes. After 45 minutes, add in your rinsed barley and cook at a simmer another 20 minutes or so before serving.

Enjoy! It was so good I didn't have a chance to snap a photo :)

French Onion Soup

My favorite fall warm up -- Homemade French Onion Soup!

I LOVE FRENCH ONION SOUP! I have spent many a years working on this recipe and it has certainly varied! I do like herbs in mine, but my hubby, not so much, so this is the tried and true version we both can agree on and we both enjoy immensely! I hope you enjoy it too! Serves about 6 people, pending your soup bowl size ;)
Ingredients:

• 4 large sweet onions, sliced
• 1 stick unsalted butter
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tbsp flour
• 1/4-1/2 cup dry red wine
• 6 cups beef broth
• 1 tsp salt (or more to suite your taste)
• 1 tsp cracked black pepper (or more to suit your taste)
• 6 slices crusty french bread
• 10 slices provolone cheese

Melt your stick of butter in a large saute pan.

Slice your onions and saute them over med -med/high heat
While they are in the pan, dice up your garlic and then toss that into the pan too. Let the onion/garlic mixture saute until the onions start to brown a tad/caramelize.

Once onions have browned up, stir in your 2 tbsp of flour and get it incorporated.

Now, you have options! You can transfer your onions to a crock pot or to a dutch oven. (if you choose the dutch oven, you can just start off with it to being with, caramelizing the onions, instead of messing another pan to clean!) I usually use the crock pot since I put it on before I head out for work.

Dump your onion mix into your crock pot. Place your pan back on the heat and deglaze it with your 1/4 cup dry red wine. You can do 1/2 a cup if you like your wine ;) Let it simmer and reduce while you get all the goodness off the bottom of the pan. After the wine has reduced to about half, pour it over the onions.

Now, pour in your beef broth and sprinkle in your S&P. Stir everything together, then allow the soup to slow cook for at least 6 hours. Mine is usually on about 8 hours before I get home from work. Same applies if you choose to allow it to simmer slowly on the stove. Of course, you can still enjoy this soup after only an hour or so of simmering, however, the longer it simmers, the more time it has for all the flavors to mesh!

Once you're ready to enjoy, toast up under your broiler your slices of french bread. (any crusty, hard bread works here). Pour your soup into oven safe bowls, then place a crusty piece of of bread on top of each soup bowl. Then layer 2 slices of provolone cheese on top of each bowl. I let them overlap the sides a tad.

Place bowls on a baking sheet under your broiler for about 6-8 minutes - time varies depending on how hot your broiler gets, how close your bowl is too it, and how burnt you like your cheese ;)

Enjoy! And be careful when you start picking off your cheese - your bowl is HOT!
**Notes: My husband isn't much of a spice person, but it is also good if you add a pinch of some spices, particularly Thyme. And, you can also simmer in a dutch over on the stove for a couple hours and it is good to go if you don't want to do the crock pot!