Beef & Vegetable Soup – the Healthy Way

You know, I never fail to be stunned when I look at the nutritional labels on the back of a can of soup. I love soup and the myriad varieties, but man-o-man do I not love the sodium in them. Or the junk. I guess the quest for maximizing the mighty dollar has led food manufacturers to cut corners both nutritionally and with ingredients so the end result is appealing only to the Americanized palate that has been over-salted, over-chemicaled and over-junked.

And yet I keep checking the labels hoping against hope that the fancy bright packaging and tantalizing promises of flavors will yield a product that I don’t mind feeding my family. Alas, more often than not the nutritional label fails me and I continue down the isle, deflated and disillusioned.

My craving for soup is now transcribed to me digging through my pantry and fridge wondering what kind of liquid genius I can concoct. When I had the business, I recall a customer who came in regularly to buy soup for lunch, even in our ridiculous heat. He announced one day, to my displeasure, that ANYBODY can make soup. I disagree! Sure, anybody can boil cabbage and throw in a can of tomatoes and call that soup, but a good, thick, hearty and nutritious soup is an art. An art which I (without shame) admit to having conquered. And so, here follows a recipe for my Beef Vegetable Soup that is both low in sodium, low in fat, and ridiculously high in nutrition.

Beef & Vegetable Soup

1 TB olive or canola oil
1 lb lean (beef) meat, cut into small chunks – can be stew beef, sirloin or any other lean cut
1 – 28 oz can diced tomatoes without salt left undrained
32 oz Kitchen Basics beef stock(Kitchen Basics offers a brand that is made ENTIRELY without salt. watch out for those other salty versions – yuck!)
2 cups water
1/2 cup uncooked barley prepared according to package instructions
1 large potato, diced
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 bag diced frozen vegetables
1 tsp dried thyme

1. Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed large pot over high heat. Add half the beef and let it brown on one side before mixing it around. When all sides have been browned (or mostly all sides), remove the beef and add the remainder. Repeat until all beef is browned then return it and any juices to the pan.
2. Add the onion and garlic and lower heat, and cook for about 5 minutes or until the onion is soft and translucent.
3. Add the beef stock, water, tomatoes and thyme. Allow to come to a simmer.
4. Meanwhile, prepare your barley in a separate pot according to package instructions but at the end of the cooking time add 1/2 cup of water. Barley is notoriously piggish when it comes to water and if you cook it in the stock it’ll just keep absorbing until grossly swollen and mushy. Cook the barley until al dente, until it still has some firmness.
5. Allow your beef soup to simmer about 30 minutes or until those beef chunks are tender. Stew meat may take a while longer. Just adjust your cooking time accordingly.
6. When the beef is tender, add your frozen vegetables and diced potato to the soup pot and allow it come come back to a gentle boil and cook for about 10 minutes until those veg are tender.
7. Season with salt and pepper and get ready to serve.
8. To serve, add about 1/4 cup of drained cooked barley to each bowl and top with the beef soup, and enjoy with a heel of crusty bread!

Store uneaten portions in the fridge but KEEP YOUR BARLEY SEPARATE or those greedy little pearls will soak up all your precious liquid. Just heat it in the mic and add to your bowl when next enjoying your soup.

Here’s a tip: If you don’t like your soups to be so watery but like me can’t abide the thought of adding a slurry or beurre manie to your broth, then try this neat trick to thicken up the soup to the desired consistency. Slowly sprinkle in instant mashed potato flakes to your broth until the soup isn’t quite so watery and let it simmer for a brief moment. Voila!