I know, everyone and their dog is complaining about the deep freeze from the polar vortex, but MAN it’s cold!!!

That was the temp in our garage this morning. UGH. Granted, I’m laughing at people back home/out East, because we here on the Plains seem to get hit like this every couple years. I think Jay said the last time it was this cold was 2 years ago, maybe 3. They called school off due to the wind chills (I don’t even want to find out what that’s at right now!), so the bambino and I hung out at home today (no daycare). Poor Jay still had to venture out and go to work, so I thought a nice hot meal would help take the chill away once he got home. Something warm and filling, like Barley Beef Soup:

I made this in the crock-pot, so it’s fairly similar to my other Crock-Pot Barley Beef Soup. The only real difference is that I used tomato sauce rather than diced tomatoes this time.

Still, with some delicious No-Knead Skillet Bread, it was a perfect meal to warm up on this frigid day (and no, mine doesn’t look nearly as pretty as Baker Bettie’s does)!

Comfort food at its best.

Yield: 6-8

Barley Beef Soup

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Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 8 hours

Total Time 8 hours 15 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 lbs. beef stew meat
• 2 Tbsp. flour
• salt & pepper
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 tsp. onion powder
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 large carrots, peeled and cut into "coins"
• 1 14-oz. can tomato sauce
• 5 C beef stock
• 3/4 C pearl barley (NOT quick-cooking)

Instructions

In a Dutch oven or large saucepan, begin heating the olive oil. In a gallon-sized plastic bag, place the flour, salt, pepper, and the stew meat. Shake to coat all the chunks of meat.

Add the garlic to the olive oil, and cook about 45-60 seconds, until fragrant and golden. Add the stew meat and onion powder, cooking until nicely browned.

Pour the mixture into the bottom of a crock-pot. Add the carrots, tomato sauce, beef stock, and barley. Cook on low for 8-9 hours or until the beef and barley are tender.

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And this makes plenty of leftovers, which will be nice for lunch, since it’s not supposed to warm up until the weekend!

Just a friendly reminder, you have until Friday to enter my Eggland’s Best giveaway!

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