Like a lot of the things that I make this is far from a traditional beef & barley cause I couldn't resist adding just about one of every vegetable I had sitting in the fridge (the fact that I was going away the next day also helped that decision along..... most of my meals are based on my travel schedule it seems). But you of course are free to add or omit anything you don't like.
Beef & Barley "soup"
4 cans low sodium beef broth
2 c pearled barley - rinsed
1.5 lb stew beef - cut into bite size chunks (about 3/4" cubes raw)
1/2 bell pepper - diced
1 onion - diced
2 stalks of celery- diced
2 carrots - in 1/8" coins
1 zucchini - in 1/8" coins cut in half
10 mushrooms - sliced
1 tbsp oil
salt & pepper
1) in a large hot pan - brown meat over med/high heat
2) after 3 min stir to flip sides
3) once brown through out remove from pan and set aside
4) add oil to pan (not needed if there are a lot of juices)
5) add carrots, onions, celery and peppers - saute until soft
6) add meat back into pan and add 3-4 cans of broth (until all meat & veg are covered) and barley
7) bring to a simmer and then lower heat to med/low and let cook (covered) for 3-4 hours stirring occasionally
8) about 30 min before serving add mushrooms and zucchini - stir to combine and recover and heat through
FYI - you made need to add more broth or just some water during the cooking as this gets thick fast!
