Split Pea Soup

Over the holidays a close friend invited me and some friends over for dinner.  She surprised us with a very delicious three course meal.  One of the meals happened to be split pea soup.  Can you believe I’ve never tried this soup?  I didn’t even know what to expect.  The soup was rich in color and thick.  Think velvety.  To my surprise there were more ingredients in the soup besides peas.  There were carrots, onions, celery and ham.  All the flavors mixed together made for a savory soup on a cold winters night.  

The best apart about this soup is that it’s made in a crock pot.  Set it and forget it!  What can be more rewarding?!   I own 2 crock pots.  One is very large (7 qts.) and fits my Snebert’s Chili recipe perfectly.  But for a more practical serving size of 2 – 4 people I use my smaller crock pot (3.5 qts.).  The small crock pot is just the right size for this meal.  Keep in mind your crock pot should be proportionate to the amount of food you’re cooking.  The general rule of thumb is that the contents inside should not be less than half or more than two-thirds full.  For additional crock pot tips, visit this site.  You might be surprised to find that you’re overcooking meals without even knowing it!

When buying ingredients for this recipe, make sure to buy the ham at your grocers deli counter.  The ham that is used in this recipe is not thinly sliced, pre-packaged deli ham.  It’s ham off the bone.  Simply request ham off the bone and ask to have it sliced thicker (approximately 1/8 inch).  Order slightly more than a half pound and you’ll have just the right amount for this recipe (2 cups).  Also, while you’re at the store, I recommend buying fresh parsley vs. dried parsley.  Yes, it will take a little extra time to chop, but the flavor will be so rewarding.

After experiencing this soup first hand, at my friend’s house, I had to re-create it at home.  What a wonderful recipe and it’s so healthy too.  I had a feeling my husband would love this dish.  Like me, he too, had never tried split pea soup.  He loved it and mentioned multiple times while we were eating how much he enjoyed it.  If you’re looking for a side to serve with this soup, try cornbread.  We like to crumble it and sprinkle it on top of our soup.  Yum!

Split Pea Soup is very hard to photograph!  Just trust me that it tastes good!

Split Pea Soup

Adapted from Slow Cooker Split Pea Soup Recipe by DianaRattray

Servings: 8

Prep Time: 15 mins.

Total Time: 4-5 hours (high heat) or 8 -10 hours (low heat)

Ingredients:

• 1 (16 oz.) pkg. dried green split peas, rinsed
• 2 cups ham off the bone, diced
• 3 carrots, peeled and sliced
• 1/2 cup onion, chopped
• 2 celery stalks (plus leaves), chopped
• 1 or 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped or 2 teaspoons dried parsley flakes
• 1 tbsp. seasoned salt
• 1/2 tsp. pepper
• 6 cups hot water

Directions:

1. In a crock pot layer the ingredients in the order given; pour in water.

2. Do not stir ingredients. Cover and cook on high 4 to 5 hours or on low 8 to 10 hours.

3. Remove the bay leaf. Mash peas to thicken more, if desired.  Serve immediately.

French Onion Soup

If you work for a large corporation like I do (MRM), it’s that time of year when you need to use your PTO days before you lose them.  I have a few left so I extended my weekend into a nice, extra long weekend.  My God I felt like I accomplished the world today!  Having one additional day off feels wonderful.  I was unstoppable today. 

Beyond running a lot of errands, I decided to make French Onion Soup.  I had just the perfect recipe as there was one sitting in my ‘recipes to try’ pile.  I love French Onion Soup, but it’s a dish that I’ve never made because it always seemed a little intimidating. Not anymore!  Don’t let it scare you because it’s actually quite easy.  

Get ready to chop!

If you’re like me and have never made this soup, you’re probably wondering what beef consommé is.  I have never heard of it until I scanned the list of ingredients below to put together my shopping list.  In researching this I learned that beef consommé is a highly clarified soup made from beef stock. The consommé is clarified by removing the fat, straining it, and adding egg whites (protein) to remove the cloudiness.  Where can you find this ingredient?  In the soup aisle at your local grocery store.  I searched for it near the broths and was unsuccessful until I scoped out the soups and found that Campbell’s makes beef consommé.

Slice & toast the baguette

Trust me, this soup is easy and within a matter of only 30 minutes you’ll have ‘Panera-like’ quality soup.  What’s so great is that your whole house will smell wonderful as this soup is cooking.  My husband, who was working upstairs, came all the way downstairs to ask what we were having for lunch because he said it smelled amazing!  When the soup was finished, and came out of the oven, I felt so proud of these masterpieces.  The melted cheese on top was bubbly, golden, and just begging for our spoons to dive in. This French Onion Soup received stamps of approval from both of us.  My husband jokingly exclaimed, “Oh great, here’s another dish I can’t order at a restaurant because it won’t compare to yours”.  It’s comments like these that make a chef swoon.  Enjoy!

French Onion Soup

Adapted from Recipe #11181 by Elizabeth Fullerton, food.com

Serves:  4

Prep Time: 10 mins.

Total Time:  30 mins.

Ingredients:

•     2 (14.5 oz.) cans reduced sodium beef broth
•     1 (10.75 oz.) can beef consommé
•     2 large vidalia onions
•     2 tablespoons butter
•     2 garlic cloves, minced
•     2-3 dashes Worcestershire sauce
•     3/4 cup shredded swiss cheese
•     3/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
•     8 slices French baguette

Directions:

1. Set oven to broil mode at 400˚F.
2. Place baguette slices on a cookie sheet and broil until toasted (2-3 minutes). Remove and cool before halving each slice (there will be 16 slices total).
3. Slice onions to preferred thickness and length.  Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. 
4. Add onions and sauté until tender (approximately 8-10 minutes); stir frequently.   Add garlic during the last 1-2 minutes of cooking so that it will not burn.
5. Add beef broth, beef consommé, and Worcestershire sauce.
6. Bring to a boil; stir constantly for 1 minute.
7. Combine swiss and mozzarella cheese in a medium sized bowl.  Toss until evenly mixed.
8. Measure 1/2 cup of cheese mixture and sprinkle into the bottom of 4 oven proof bowls.  Divide evenly amongst the bowls.  Note:  I used large soup bowls that were only labeled as dishwasher and microwave safe.  These worked and did not break, but please note there is a possibility they could break.
9. Ladle soup into each bowl and leave room at the top of the bowl (allow at least 1-2 inches from soup to top of bowl).  Top each bowl with 4 slices of toasted baguette. 
10. Sprinkle and divide remaining cheese mixture evenly amongst the bowls.
11. Broil until cheese is bubbly and just starting to turn golden (approximately 4-5 minutes).
12. Serve immediately, but be careful as the bowls will be very hot.
    
    

Snebert's Chili

Fall is such a wonderful time for chili.  It brings back memories of being a student at Michigan State University and hardly being able to contain my excitement of returning home during holiday break and having real, home cooked meals.  I can’t remember if my mom would ask me what I wanted her to make or if I requested my favorites before I even arrived home.  Either way, chili was always one of those meals. 

My mom’s chili was always good but eventually my husband (boyfriend at the time) and I created our own.  After trying a few chili recipes we had an idea of what we liked and began to write down everything we added to the pot.  We got a little crazy as this recipe serves a lot of people.  We even managed to overflow my husbands crock-pot one time.  That’s when I became wise and bought my own LARGE crock-pot that holds this recipe perfectly. 

We started our own tradition of making chili for the Detroit Lion’s first football game of the season.  We were so excited to watch the game (well maybe Ryan was a little more than me) that it helped to keep ourselves occupied beforehand.  And when the game finally started we had warm chili to cuddle up with on the coach and eat while watching the game.  Heaven.

Trust me, we become more and more creative each year.  The recipe below is just a snapshot of how we currently make our chili.  It seems like a new ingredient is always entering our crock-pot.  One year it was brown sugar, another year it was honey, and then roasted peppers.  Each new ingredient worked quite well and we kept adding them onto our base recipe.  Have fun when putting this dish together.  This recipe suits our tastes, but what do you like that’s missing?  Don’t be afraid to add different ingredients.  It’s pretty hard to ruin chili.  A few years ago I went to a hunting lodge that was hosting a chili cook off and I have never seen so many different kinds of chili!  There was cherry chili, catfish chili (yes it was even in a camouflage hunting crock-pot!) and many more.  You name it, they had it.  So be creative.

When the chili is ready have a variety of toppings to enhance your experience.  Many people like to serve cornbread with their chili.  My husband and I like to crumble it over the top of our chili.  Add a dollop of cold sour cream to cool down your first few bites while adding a bit of creaminess.  Perhaps my favorite…French’s fried onions for some texture.  And last, but not least, some freshly shredded cheddar cheese.  

Some of our favorite toppings

If you’re wondering why the chili is called Snebert’s chili, no it’s not because you’ll find it in the Lemony Snicket’s series, it’s actually made from a combination of my maiden name and my husband’s last name (now mine as well) since we were only dating at the time.  I hope you’ll enjoy this chili as much as we do!

Snebert’s Chili

Original recipe by Alissa & Ryan Hebert

Serves: 10-12 people

Prep time: 20 mins.

Total time:  5 hours

Ingredients: 

• 2 lbs ground beef
• 1 (29 oz.) can tomato sauce
• 1 (15.5 oz.) can kidney beans (with liquid)
• 1 (15 oz.) can black beans (with liquid)
• 1 (30.5 oz) can mild chili beans in chili sauce
• 1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes w/ green chilies
• 1/2 of medium Vidalia onion, chopped
• 1/2 of medium red onion, chopped
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 2 teaspoons cumin powder
• 3 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 ½ teaspoons black pepper
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 3/4 cup water
• 1 roasted red pepper, chopped (include half of the liquid from the 12 oz. jar)
• 3 heaping teaspoons brown sugar
• Honey

Directions:

1. Cook the ground beef and drain the fat.
2. In a large crock-pot add ground beef and all of the remaining ingredients.  When adding the honey drizzle 1 to 2 drizzles over the top of the chili; stir well to combine.
3. Turn crock-pot on to high heat and cover with lid, making sure to stir every so often.  Cook on high for approximately 4 hours, then remove lid and cook on low for 1 hour.

Individual Chicken Pot Pies

Ever since there’s been a chill in the air I’ve had the urge to make some of my favorite meals.  One of those being chicken pot pie.  I have a staple chicken pot pie recipe that both my husband and I love, however it produces one massive pie.  I’ve really been wanting to make individual pies, like the ones you order at a restaurant.  That’s when I stumbled across a new cooking blog, that I love, and found this recipe for individual pot pies.  The pies are topped with homemade biscuits instead of pie crusts.  One of the biscuits main ingredients happens to be greek yogurt for all you greek yogurt lovers!  Overall this recipe is much healthier than my go-to recipe and it even incorporates white wine (bonus)!!! 

Before you begin baking, WAIT, do you have ramekins?  These are the individual dishes that the pie is baked in.  If you don’t you’ll need to pick some up at the store.    I had some smaller ones (7 oz.), but they weren’t big enough for a meal.  Ideally you’re looking for a 10 oz. ramekin (a little larger is ok too).  I found mine at Meijer’s but I know Target carries them as well.  They come in a plethora of colors, so have fun picking them out.  I think it’s more fun to have a mismatched set, so these are the colors I chose.  Also, before you buy them, double check the bottom to make sure they say oven proof.  

This recipe involves a lot of chopping.  If your cutting board isn’t very large, I suggest chopping one vegetable at a time and adding it to a large bowl, before moving onto the next.  This will allow you to maximize your cutting space.  Also, when cutting the green beans, an easy way to save yourself time when trimming the ends is to line about 5 or 6 green beans up in a row (all tips equally aligned), then simply chop and discard the ends.

Fast way to trim the ends off the beans

I know what you’re thinking, if I’m making the filling from scratch, can’t I just buy ready biscuit dough from the store?  It’s definitely tempting, but don’t.  It will be well worth it in the end.  Plus once the filling is simmering for 15 minutes, it’s the perfect opportunity to make the dough.

Ready to blend/process

The mixture will be crumbly

Cut the pie tops using the ramekins (flipped over)

You’ll find this recipe is very easy to produce if you follow the directions step by step.  Here’s a few tips I wanted to share that hopefully you’ll find useful.  This recipes calls for a 1/2 cup of wine.  That’s not very much wine, especially if you’re not planning to drink wine with dinner.  My suggestion: buy mini bottles of wine at the grocery store.  They usually come about 4 to a pack and they’re sold by individual serving size; just over a cup.  They’re perfect for cooking and there’s no waste after.  With this recipe you’ll have some leftover chicken stock.  You can save the remaining amount in the fridge for a few days OR if you’re a dog owner, top your dogs dry food with a drizzle of this.  Trust me it’s healthier than canned dog food and they’ll LOVE it!  I know my dog does!

Top each with biscuit dough

I have to say, when these came out of the oven, I was so excited to think that I made these!  And all from scratch!  The biscuits were a nice gold brown color and the steam rising from the ramekins smelled absolutely wonderful.  When my husband and I sunk our spoons into the pot pies for our first bite, we were pleasantly surprised.  The biscuits had a nice light buttery flavor, but not over the top buttery like you find in biscuit dough that grocery stores carry.  The chicken stock and wine created a nice soup like gravy while the vegetables were plentiful and added nice texture throughout the mixture.  My husband loved the seasonings and we both agreed we didn’t even miss having potatoes in the mixture.   This is a healthier pot pie recipe compared to the others I’ve made/tried and we were both very impressed with it.  After my husband exclaimed it was delicious, he couldn’t resist and went back for a 2^nd pie.  Mission accomplished!

Individual Chicken Pot Pies

Adapted from  Back to the Cutting Board blog, by Emily Carlin

Serves:  4

Prep Time: 25 mins.

Total Time: 45 mins.

Ingredients:

Filling

• 1 tbsp. butter
• 3/4 lb. uncooked boneless, skinless chicken breast, cubed
• 2 celery stalks, chopped
• 2 large carrots, chopped
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1/3 cup fresh green beans, cut into bite size pieces
• 2 tbsp. self-rising flour (if you don’t have any you can make your own)
• 1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
• 1/2 cup white wine (replace with chicken broth if you prefer to not use wine)
• 1/3 cup frozen peas
• 1/3 cup frozen corn
• 1 tsp. chopped fresh thyme or 1/2 tsp. dried thyme
• 1 tsp. chopped fresh parsley (optional)
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper
• 1/2 tsp. salt

Topping

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 3 tbsp. cold butter, cut into small cubes
• 1/4 cup + 3 tbsp. low-fat plain Greek yogurt

Directions:

1. In a large pot, melt butter over medium heat. Add chicken, onion, celery, carrots and green beans. Stir frequently and cook until the chicken is no longer pink.
2. Add flour to the chicken mixture and stir well until it has a paste like texture. 
3. Slowly pour in chicken stock and wine, stirring constantly so no lumps form. Add peas, corn, thyme, parsley (optional), salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Simmer for 15 minutes to allow the mixture to thicken.
4. Preheat oven to 375˚F.
5. While the filling is simmering, make the biscuits. Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl or food processor.
6. Cut the butter into the flour mixture by hand or with a food processor. Make sure the butter is thoroughly combined. The dough mixture should be crumbly.
7. Stir in the yogurt.  Press the dough crumbles to eventually form a ball out of the dough.
8. Place the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead approximately 10 times.  Add a little flour if it’s very sticky, but not too much, as it should slightly stick to your hands.
9. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough until it is approximately 1/2 inch thick. Take one of your ramekins and use it as a biscuit cutter to create the pot pie tops.  Re-roll the dough as needed to produce more tops.
10.  Coat the inside of each ramekin with cooking spray or lightly grease with olive oil.  Fill each ramekin, approximately ¾ full, with the chicken mixture.  Top with the biscuit dough cut outs.
11. Cover a baking sheet with foil (the pies tend to overflow so this will help with clean up time) and place the ramekins on top.  Bake for 15-20 minutes until the biscuits are golden brown and the mixture is bubbly.

Note: Serve the ramekins on a dish to your guests as they will be too hot to hold.

Minestrone Soup

This past Labor Day weekend was very chilly and there was no question that Fall was in the air.  The weather was chilly enough to wear a hooded sweatshirt and have to restrain myself from going to a cider mill and getting warm doughnuts and cider (YUM!).  It’s still a little early in the season for the cider mill so I settled on making homemade soup instead.  I love creamy soups like Broccoli & Cheddar or Potato, Bacon, & Cheese, but I wanted something a little healthier.  One of my favorite soups is Olive Garden’s minestrone soup with fresh out of the oven breadsticks for dipping.  This recipe I found online states that it’s a ‘copycat’ of Olive Garden’s minestrone soup.  I definitely wanted to try making it!

As you look at the recipe below you may be thinking it looks hard, but don’t sell your cooking skills short. You can easily make this!  There’s a long list of ingredients but just prepare yourself by writing a detailed grocery list.  There’s nothing worse than getting home and realizing you forgot one item.  Also, while you’re at the store, you may be tempted to buy dried basil or parsley, but don’t give in.  I used to do this as I thought fresh and dried herbs produced the same taste.  WRONG.  Not until I began getting into cooking did I understand this.  Fresh herbs have a strong, rich flavor and add a lot to a meal by enhancing the flavors.  If you want to save yourself a little bit of time, like I’ve mentioned before, buy pre-minced garlic in a jar at the store.  I even went as far as buying baby carrots since I wouldn’t have to peel them and only needed to chop them into smaller pieces.  Plus, left over carrots serve a nice purpose as they’re a healthy snack to have ready in the fridge.

Fresh Spinach (don't buy frozen!)

Once you’re home and ready to start cooking, most of the work centers around chopping the vegetables and herbs.  The best part is when that’s complete you can walk away, with the exception of a few stirs here and there, while the soup simmers for 40 minutes.  Let your house drink in the aroma while you decide if you want to go a step further and make homemade breadsticks.  

 

 

My husband and I ate our soup and breadsticks while we watched one of our favorite tv shows.  At first my husband didn’t say anything and I was surprised as I thought the soup was really good.  Then out of nowhere he said, “WOW this is really good!”  The soup was a hit!  It’s very thick and hearty as it has many vegetables and pasta combined in a nice tomato infused broth.   I explained how it’s a copycat recipe of Olive Garden’s minestrone soup and he said it was better!  The most rewarding part about making this meal is that you will have many leftovers, especially if you're only cooking for 2 people.  You won’t get tired of this soup either.  The next day, while at work, my husband texted me… ‘Just had some of your soup…It was awesome.  Can’t wait for dinner.’  What’s funny is that he knew we were having leftover soup for dinner.  Make this soup, you won’t regret it!

Minestrone Soup
Adapted from Recipe #77585 by Suzy, food.com
Serves 8
Prep Time:  20 mins.
Total Time:  1 hour

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 cup vidalia onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup zucchini, chopped
• 1/2 cup fresh green beans
• 1/4 cup celery, chopped
• 4 teaspoons garlic, minced (about 4 cloves)
• 4 cups vegetable broth (note: make sure to purchase vegetable broth & not chicken broth)
• 1 (15 ounce) can red kidney beans, drained
• 1 (15 ounce) can great northern beans, drained
• 1 (14 ounce) can diced tomatoes (not drained)
• 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
• 1/2 cup carrots, chopped
• 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, minced
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon basil, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 3 cups hot water
• 2 cups fresh spinach, chopped
• 1 cup small shell pasta

Directions:

1. Chop onion, zucchini, carrots and celery.  Finely mince garlic (or use minced garlic from a jar instead).  Trim ends off the beans and discard.  Cut the beans into approximately 1 inch pieces.  Set all vegetables aside.
2. Finely chop parsley and basil.  Roughly chop the spinach into bite size pieces.  Set aside.
3. Heat three tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat in a large pot.
4. Sauté onion, celery, carrots, green beans, and zucchini in the oil for 5 minutes or until the onions are translucent.  Add the garlic during the last 2 minutes.
5. Add all of the remaining ingredients, except the spinach and pasta, to the pot.
6. Bring soup to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes.
7. Add the spinach leaves and pasta shells.  Cook for an additional 20 minutes or until desired consistency.

New Ingredients Can Be Scary

I love trying new recipes and this is a new one I tried today called Beef, Barley, and Dried Mushroom Stew. I was browsing through my favorite food recipe site, Food.com, and it caught my eye because:

1. It sounds like a something my husband would love (I don’t make a lot of beef meals, especially chunky ones as I’m more of a chicken fan) 

2. It seems like a soup you might very well find at Panera

3. It has chipotle chiles in adobo sauce which I’ve recently come to love 

Most of the time I select what I make based on reading others reviews.  I guess it’s the same as when I buy products on Amazon.  Reading someone else’s experiences can be very useful in making your decision.  For recipes it’s particularly helpful as sometimes the reviewers list what didn’t come out quite so right or how they altered the recipe to suit their needs.   

There couldn’t have been a better time to try this recipe than today as Michigan had one of their largest snowfalls this winter (about 10 inches).  My husband went snowboarding so I knew he’d definitely have a good appetite worked up by the time he got home.   He’ll be the perfect judge on whether this soup makes it into our regulars cookbook.  

I have to admit I’ve never used dried mushrooms, beef base, or barley. I’ve heard of all these ingredients except beef base.  I thought maybe it’s a beef bouillon cube, but when I looked it up online I found out that it’s not the same. Beef base is actually beef stock that’s been turned into a powder or paste.  This is located down the same aisle as the bouillon cubes and stocks at the grocery store.  There weren’t many brands to choose from so I decided to try this Amish brand. 

The recipe itself didn’t seem that hard but as I was prepping I had to think about how the instructions were worded.  For instance… ‘and rough cut reserve the strained liquid’.  I had no idea what this meant so I looked up ‘rough cut reserve’ online only to find nothing.  Then I re-read it a few more times and laughed.  I was dissecting the steps too much.  Rough cut the mushrooms AND reserve the strained liquid, got it!  I've since modified the original recipe instructions so that they're easier to follow (listed below). 

I have to say in making this recipe all was going smoothly until I opened the beef base.  Wow, this ingredient was not what I was expecting at all.  I let out a little gasp as I opened the jar.  I don’t know why but I thought the brand I bought was a powder.  No sirree, it was a paste.  The color was a very dark brown, in paste form, and literally looked like babies poop.  Here’s a picture so you can see for yourself.  Don’t let this stop you from buying it though.  At least now you’re prepared for what you’ll see when you open it!  From what I read, the base is supposed to have a richer flavor than bouillon cubes.  Don’t worry, the base will last for a while as it can be refrigerated for months after it’s opened.

In the end the stew came out like it was supposed to however there’s one change I would make and that’s to buy better quality beef.  I bought pre-cut beef stew meat and I think it was a little fattier than if I were to buy the beef and cut it myself.  My husband thought the meal was good, but felt the same about the beef.  I asked him to rate it out of 5 stars and he gave it a 3.  Before he knew he would have to rate it, as he was eating he laughed and said “It’s fucking hot (spicy)!” I kinda laughed because I didn’t think it was that spicy, but I did add a little more chipotle than what was called for since I like love chipotle peppers.  He thought maybe it felt extra spicy since his lips were wind burnt from snowboarding.
 

Beef, Barley, and Dried Mushroom Stew

Adapted from Recipe #103632 by Rita, food.com

Prep Time: 15 mins

Total Time: 1 3/4 hrs

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 red onion, diced
• 1/2 cup diced celery
• 1/2 cup diced carrot
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup dried funghi porcini, stems discarded
• 1/4 cup dried shiitake mushroom, stems discarded
• 1 lb beef, cubed
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1 chipotle chile in adobo sauce, diced (more can be added for extra spiciness)
• 6 cups water
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon beef base
• 3 ounces tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 fresh bay leaf
• 1/2 cup barley
 

1. Put mushrooms in bowl and cover with hot water.  Set aside.

2. In a large pot heat oil and saute onions, garlic, celery and carrots until slightly wilted.

3. Season beef cubes generously with salt and pepper.  Add to onion mixture and cook until just browned.

4. Reserve some of the water while straining the mushrooms.   You can use as much as you'd like for the 6 cups of water requested above.  I reserved about 1 cup mushroom water and used it in addition to 5 cups of regular water (6 total cups).  After mushrooms are strained, roughly chop the mushrooms. 

5. Add ground meat, chipotle pepper, and chopped mushrooms to the pot and brown.

6. In a large bowl combine 6 cups of water (use as much mushroom water as you'd like along with regular water; total 6 cups), Worcestershire sauce, beef base, and tomato paste.   Stir ingredients.  After ingredients are well mixed add to the pot along with the oregano and bay leaves.

7. Bring to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes.

8. Add barley and simmer an hour.

9. Taste and season with salt and pepper if needed.