This is so hearty and filling! Perfect for the fall and winter months ahead. Most of the dinner things I make I just make after reading a few recipe ideas and then trial and error.
I start with a nice roast, I salt it and cook it all day (or night) with chopped celery, onion and a carrot and about 2 1/2 cups of water. Slow cook until it's falling apart.
I pull roast apart and cut up into small pieces. I use as much of the meat as I want for the soup and save/freeze or eat the rest.* In a crock pot with meat and *broth I add about 2 cups of mixed veggies (corn, peas, carrots, green beans), *1/2 cup of barley, salt, dashes of pepper, as much water as I want. Barely will thicken soup. I will add beef flavor (MSG free) if needed, I taste and see. You may want it brothy enough that when you refrigerate leftover it doesn't all get sucked up before you reheat and eat again.
(You can add tomato pieces if you want, I have kids that don't want that in theirs. I usually add a splash of garlic and some shakes of onion powder, I add those things to almost everythng for flavor.)
I simmer on low for several hours, until barely is super soft. Add salt to taste. This is normally a salty soup. I always cook with less salt and add more when we are eating.
*ideas for the extra meat: freeze and use in a future soup batch, make shredded beef tacos, make a sandwich. Feed it to a pack of hungry kids that just eat in with lunch the next day.
*If you feel your broth is too fatty then refrigerate just the broth and skim some fat off the top when it hardens. Then make soup.
*Sometimes I add 1cup of barley to stretch it, as I feed 9 people!
