A simple hello

Yesterday was such a busy day, and long; it was really nice to come home to soup for dinner. I had never made beef soup with ground beef before, however it turned out OK. The meat cooked up tender, but it also did not seem out of place in the soup.

I have always been a cook that cooked with what was on hand. I prefer diced stewing beef for soup, but did not want to go out to the market and wanted to use what was on hand. For the crockpot beef barley soup, I will use stewing beef next time. I also think as a soup that will be served as a dinner entree the stewing beef will seem more filing. It is all about trial and error. I have not had much success with the crockpot, but this is one. I now know that I have cooked things way too long. Overnight for the 6 hours on high was perfect for the soup. I will use that process again.

Tonight I plan on making a batch of mushroom barley soup. Because mushrooms are so tender, I think the ground beef will be a good match. We shall see.

I caved in this past week and purchased an item that I thought I would not buy because of the cost. It was reduced in price and it was my birthday week, if that is enough justification! I will show it off next Monday. It will be fun to show different little things that happen along the way each week.

Enjoy your day, it is time to get ready for work (again!),

M