Pressure Cooker Beef Barley Vegetable Soup

Tish's Note:

This is a cross between a soup and a stew, and is the perfect supper for midwinter warm-ups. Serve it with a salad or coleslaw and warm rolls with butter.

• Total Time: 35 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 25 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 6

• 1 ¼ lbs lean ground beef
• 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
• 2 ½ cups water
• ½ cup barley
• 3 large carrots (about 8 oz. total)
• 2 stalks celery
• 1 large idaho potato (about 10 oz.)
• 1 medium onion (about 6 oz)
• 1 clove garlic
• ½ teaspoon dried basil
• ½ teaspoon dried thyme leaves
• ½ teaspoon dried rosemary
• ½ teaspoon dried marjoram
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• fresh ground black pepper

Directions:

1. Brown the beef in the pressure cooker.
2. Drain off any fat.
3. Add the tomatoes, water and barley.
4. Close pressure cooker and bring up to full pressure.
5. Reduce heat to stabilize and cook for 10 minutes While the soup is cooking, split the carrots in half lengthwise, then cut into 1/2" thick slices.
6. Peel and dice the potato.
7. Dice the onion and mince the garlic.
8. When the soup has cooked for 10 minutes, realease pressure and add the vegetables, basil, thyme, rosemary, marjoram, salt and pepper to taste.
9. Close pressure cooker and bring up to full pressure.
10. Reduce the heat until pressure is stabilized and cook and cook 10 minutes longer.
11. Release the pressure.
12. The soup can be refrigerated for up to 4 days or frozen.

Reviews

[cassiesmydog]

this is a great recipe! I made this today to share at work and everybody just loved it. It was so quick and easy to make. I will be making this often. Thanks for a great,quick and easy recipe.

[Amy Fielding]

Good recipe...my DH loved it! Easy to make especially with the pressure cooker..I only used 1 lb. of lean ground beef and I added a bit more salt and pepper. A great healthy recipe we will definitly make again. Thanks:)

[cbview]

This low star is mostly to balance out all the high marks, since the recipe does need some adjustments. The meat needs to be browned in some oil, otherwise it will stick terribly to your pot. The recipe as it stands is VERY tomatoey, and acidy. The barley was also too chewy on the times given, and the soup was too thick. We ended up diluting it out with a couple cups of bouillon broth, and added some sugar, and it was very good at that point. I would recommend halving the tomato, increasing the liquids with a cup of bouillon, and possibly adding sugar to break up the acid.