Foodie Friday -- Beef and Barley Soup

Crockpot soup!  I love a good crockpot soup, don't you?

The original recipe was from the 1950's or 60's. It's old. My mom had typed it on a card, then I typed it on a card in the 1980's. It called for beef shank or neck. . . I don't know about you, but the three grocery stores that I shopped at didn't have beef shank or neck. Years ago, Walmart had beef tongue, but that's another story.

Most modern stores in the US won't carry the 'remnants' from animals. If you can find a cheaper cut of beef, more power to you! The how to cook will be in the Tips and Tricks.

I also couldn't find barley. What is this world coming to??  By the time I got to store #3, Reasor's, a local grocery chain, I found a wonderful selection of grains . . . but no barley. Every other kind of seed and grain imaginable, but no barley. What to do? I spent 5 minutes trying to remember the size of the pearl barley we used for this recipe. I found spelt. Yes, spelt. It's a German wheat grain. After cooking for eight hours, it still had a bit of a chew to the texture. I enjoyed it, my hubby didn't.

Beef and Barley Soup

1 1/2 bottom roast, bite-sized cubes
2 carrots, diced
1 medium onion, sliced thinly
3/4-1 cup barley (spelt)
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 bay leaf
2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. thyme
1/2 tsp. savory
4 cups beef broth

2 Tbls. cornstarch, for thickening

Combine all ingredients, EXCEPT cornstarch, in crockpot. Cook on low for 8 hours, or until beef and barley are tender.

To thicken, place cornstarch into small bowl, add a few spoonfuls of broth to cornstarch and stir to make a slurry, stir into soup. Repeat if needed to thicken to desired level.

Taste for seasoning. Enjoy!

Tips & Tricks:

• For beef shank or neck: Take three pounds of beef (because there will be bone, etc. and you need more meat), dredge in flour, place in hot pan with 4Tbls oil, brown on all sides. THEN cook it like the recipe states, before serving it, remove the meat from the bones and put it back into the crockpot. 
• If unsure how salty the beef broth is, then use only half of the salt stated in the recipe and adjust after it cooks.
• If using dried parsley vs fresh, then use about 1-2 Tbls.
• I turned the crockpot on high for the last hour to cook the spelt a little more
• I used Better than Bouillon beef base. I find it to be less salty than regular broth
• I didn't need to adjust any seasonings. It turned out really good.
• Reheats well. The beef became really tender after it sat for a day or two in the fridge

Enjoy!

Maze of Monster Mix-Ups is still available for free today.

Tomorrow will be a different book, but I can't remember which one! 

Foodie Friday -- Mag's Chili

Personally, I think there are as many chili recipes as there are ingredients in one's pantry. In other words, limitless.

If you have meat, tomatoes, and chili powder, you can make chili.

And there are billions of varieties of chili powder, which means a gazillion varieties of chili.

Hub's work place was having a chili cook-off, so I made chili.

But we've been iced in. I couldn't go to the store. I had some regular ingredients, and some not so normal ingredients, on hand.

Again, chili is one of those 'dump' recipes: Dump stuff in, let it cook, taste, and adjust seasonings

This was the result.

Mag's Chili

2 lbs ground beef, divided (I used 93% fat free beef, so I didn't bother to drain it)
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1/3 cup dried onions (forgot to buy a real onion, oops)
2 cups chopped brisket (fat removed--adds a smokiness)
2 16 oz cans diced tomatoes
1 can Rotel tomatoes, hot habanero variety (no idea why I bought it!)
1 3.5 oz chopped green chilies
1 small can tomato paste (6 oz?)
3-5 heaping Tbls Top Hat chili powder (depends on chili powder and freshness of aforementioned chili powder) (link takes you to Pendery's order page for Top Hat chili powder)
@ 1 Tbls kosher salt (don't oversalt! Use less, until it cooks a little and add more if needed)
1 12 -oz amber lager (I used Old Scratch Amber)
2 cups homemade enchilada sauce (that had been in the freezer for awhile--the link provides the recipe)
1 can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
@ 1/4-1/2 tsp. chipotle powder, (sprinkled in to taste)

Brown 1 pound of ground beef. Add rest of ingredients (the second pound of beef will melt into the liquid with no chunks), except kidney beans. Cook about 30 minutes, taste and adjust seasonings. Add kidney beans. Cook for another 30 minutes to an hour to cook down and meld flavors.

Enjoy! And don't burn your mouth like my hubs did!

Tips & Tricks:

• most of my tips and trick are in red within the recipe.
• again, you can make it as mild or as spicy as you like
• If you want to brown both pounds of ground beef for larger chunks, by all means do so. This is just what I threw together. Make it your own.
• season lightly with salt at the beginning, because when it cooks down it might be too salty--you can always add more--I did!
• I prefer flaked Kosher salt. It has less harshness than iodized table salt
• If I hadn't used my chopped Poblano peppers from the freezer in another recipe I would have tossed in about 1/3 cup. . . . or jalapenos . . . or Serrano chilies. . . or what other spicy chilies that were on hand at the store. . . . if I had been able to go to the store.
• I threw the beans in there because I wanted to clear out my pantry a little. . . not because the recipe needed beans.

Later, Peeps!

FOODIE FRIDAY -- Italian Drip Beef

Again, I’ve taken a recipe and made it my own. The original of this recipe was from The Pioneer Woman’s blog, but I adapted this to Italian Drip Beef in a crockpot.

Italian Drip Beef

1 2.5 to 4 lb. Chuck Roast

2 onions, sliced
3 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
¼ cup soy sauce
1 cup dry sherry
2 cups beef broth
3 Tbls. Italian seasoning

Place ingredients in crock pot with the meat on top of the onions and garlic. Cook for 8-10 hours on low. Shred meat, remove the remaining fat and discard. Return meat to crockpot, cook on low for ½-1 hour.

Cut and toast deli rolls. Add provolone cheese and broil until bubbly, top with desired amount of meat. Add pepperoncini or dip in au jus, if desired.

Enjoy!

FOODIE FRIDAY--Crockpot Pulled Pork

This crockpot recipe I just picked up on Monday at my Weight Watchers meeting. Now, I have a crockpot, but only pull it from the cabinet on rare occasions and this seemed like a decent time to try this recipe. The beauty of crockpot cooking is the low heat and lack of effort on the cook’s part. Trust me—dump in stuff, turn on low and walk away. Easy-peasy.

Crockpot Pulled Pork

1-2 lb. pork loin (a lean cut of pork)
1 cup barbeque sauce (make your own for lower sugar and sodium content)
1 ½ tsp. chili powder
1 small onion, chopped
Kaiser rolls-sliced and toasted

Place meat in crockpot, dump in BBQ sauce, chili and onions. Turn on low, cook for 6-8 hours. Shred meat with two forks.  Scoop ½ cup of pulled pork mixture and place on Kaiser Roll.

@ 10 Weight Watcher point plus value. {Kaiser roll= 5, 3 oz of pork=5}
--BTW--It was excellent!
 Spice it up with chipotle chilies—diced or add more chili powder.

For those of you who missed my BBQ sauce recipe, here it is again:

Barbeque Sauce

¾ cup tomato ketchup

2 Tbls. vinegar
2 Tbls. Worcestershire sauce
Dash of cayenne pepper (or more if more heat is desired)
1 tsp. paprika
½ tsp. black pepper
1-2 tsp chili powder {(I use Pendry’s Top Hat blend) and probably more than this}
Salt, to taste

Combine ingredients, adjust seasonings to taste. Add water, if needed to thin out.  I usually double this recipe and make it in a large ketchup bottle.

If you want smoky-flavored, add liquid smoke

If you want more heat, add your favorite hot sauce, more cayenne, minced jalapeños or habaneros, or whatever.
More bite, add more black pepper
If you want more onion, add it
Make it for you!

Enjoy!