In our family, beef barley soup is a nice break from the more common turkey meatball soup or chicken noodle soup. Unlike my grandmother and other classic beef and barley soup recipes, I like to make this soup with ground beef. Small bits of cooked hamburger match beautifully with barley and wind up in every mouthful, adding more richness to the soup
Ingredients
1 pound boneless chuck roast trimmed and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 1/2 cups carrots thinly sliced
1 1/2 cups celery thinly sliced
2/3 cup onion chopped
1 package pre-sliced mushrooms 8-ounce
2 tbs beef base (this is different than beef broth it is a base that makes beef broth)
8-10 cups water
1 large bay leaf