Nif's Hearty Healthy Beef Barley Soup

This is an awesome soup that I make and freeze in individual servings to take to work for lunch. You can also use pot barley, but it will have to cook longer. Enjoy!

• Ready In: 1 hr 5 mins
• Serves: 12
• Yields: 1 huge pot of soup

Ingredients

• 3⁄4 lb beef sirloin, trimmed, cubed into bite sized pieces
• 2  cups carrots, diced
• 2  cups celery, diced
• 1 1⁄2 cups onions, diced
• 2  cups potatoes, diced
• 2  garlic cloves, minced
• 1  small shallot, minced (optional)
• 2 (10 ounce) cans mushrooms, use juice too (if using whole mushrooms, cut in half)
• 1 3⁄4 cups pearl barley
• 12  cups nonfat beef broth (substitute chicken if no beef)
• 2  bay leaves

Directions

1. Spray large pot with extra virgin olive oil spray. Over med-high heat, lightly brown beef and then add veggies, except for mushrooms. Saute for a 3-5 minutes.
2. Add broth, bay leaf, barley, mushrooms (with juice). Bring to boil.
3. Lower heat and simmer for 30-60 minutes or until barley and veggies are tender. Remove bay leaves. Salt and pepper to taste.