Beef Barley Soup

While it's still cold outside, I have been taking advantage of the fact that soups and stews taste oh-so-yummy, and warm you from the inside out.  One of my favorite soups that is both delicious and easy is Beef Barley soup.  This is a very forgiving soup if you don't have lots of ingredients to work with.  Let's get started:

Beef Barley Soup

1 lb stewing beef
3 lbs (approx) potatoes, scrubbed and cubed*
3/4 cup pearl barley
1 can green beans
1 can green peas
8 cups beef stock (or beef bouillon and water to equivalent of 8 cups)

In a large pot (or large crock pot), heat 4 cups beef stock, and add stewing beef.  Boil meat until cooked through most of the way.  Add potatoes and barley and simmer for about 45 minutes in large pot or about 1 1/2 hours on high in crockpot.  Add the veggies - you can use one or the other or another canned veggie of your choice.  Heat through, and serve.  Can sit in pot or crock pot on low heat for several hours and it will not over cook.  Serves at least 8 people.
*I don't bother peeling the potatoes, since I like the texture of the peeling.  I just make sure the potatoes are well scrubbed.  If you prefer to peel them, they work just as well.

Potato Chips

Since becoming pregnant, our financial outlook has been pretty bleak.  So, it has allowed me to become very creative in order to satisfy some of my cravings.  I love looking for new recipes and things that sound absolutely delicious to me.  My new habit is that when I am craving an item, I check online to see if there is a recipe for it that uses the things I have in the house, or could easily (read - cheaply) obtain.

Last night's craving?  Potato chips.

Now, I love to crack open a bag of Lay's and chill out on the couch with a sappy movie, but last night I decided to try making some.  Here was how I did it:

Potato Chips

2 large russet potatoes
oil for pan - enough for about 1" deep in my trusty sauce pan
salt

First, I scrubbed my potatoes.  Then, I sliced the potatoes with my slicer (the one that is on the back side of a standard cheese grater).  This made them about 1/8" thick.  Next, I soaked them in cold water for about 30 minutes.  Next, I laid them out on paper towel to dry as completely as possible.

While they were drying, I heated my oil on the stove.  If you have a deep fryer, that works, too.  I just don't have one to use...  =)  I have no idea the temperature my oil was, I had the stove on medium, and it seemed to work well.  Now it's time for those taters to take a bath!  Drop a few in the pan.  If the oil sizzles when they go in, it's hot enough.  Fry until golden brown on both sides. (Time will vary, depending on thickness of potatoes).

Pull them out of the oil, and drain on paper towels lined cooling racks.  They will crisp up as they cool.  Sprinkle with salt or other seasonings before they are cooled. 

 Serve!  2 potatoes made about 40 chips for me.

Fajita Sammies

I am always trying new ways of fixing old meals.  I am also a big fan of versatile ingredients I can make to have on hand.  Some of my favorites that work well for lots of different meals are:  rice (plain white), ground beef, stewing beef and chicken breast.  I like to make some of these and switch up what I make over the course of the week.

This week, I cooked up some stewing beef and had it in the fridge.  Besides the obvious use of making stew with it, my favorite use is for fajitas.  Normally, I have tortillas on hand, along with a packet of fajita seasoning mix.  Well, today I didn't have either of those.  I had the stewing beef, red bell pepper and onion.  But nothing to put it in.  So, with a little creativity, I came up with:  Fajita Sammies (which is just a fancy way of saying Fajitas on a sandwich).  So, here is my recipe:

Fajita Sammies

1 lb stewing beef, cut into bite size pieces
1 medium onion, chopped
1-2 bell peppers, sliced
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp cumin
1 Tbsp chili powder
2 tsp garlic salt
12 slices of bread, toasted and buttered

In skillet, heat oil.  Add onion and saute until slightly caramelized.  Add stewing beef and cook as you like it (I prefer mine med well to well done).  Add the peppers and spices just before the meat is cooked to your liking.  Let simmer until the peppers are cooked through.  Make sure to coat all ingredients with the spices.

While the meat is cooking, toast or broil your bread and butter it.  For extra flavor, add a sprinkling of paprika to the buttered bread.

Once the meat is all ready to go, divide it up and serve it on the bread!  You can add the extras like guacamole and salsa, if desired.

When you are ready to take a bite, roll it like a taco shell around the meat filling.  Mmmmm!  Enjoy!