Vegetable Barley Soup

It's one of those cold winter days which is coincidentally one of the best times to make a hardy soup! I had some pearl barley in the cupboard and potatoes, carrots and onion in the garage. With those base ingredients I decided to go make a soup!

(That doesn't look like soup? Find out why down below)

Ingredients:
1 - Medium Onion
3 - Medium Potatoes
2 - Carrots
1/2 - Can of Diced Tomatoes
1/4 - Tsp Salt
1/4 - Tsp Pepper
1/2 - Tsp Paprika
1/2 - Tsp Parsley
1/2 - Tsp Thyme
1.5 - Cups Pearl Barley
5 - Cups Beef Broth

Directions:
Dice onions and add to a large stock pot with some olive oil or butter, cook over Medium heat.

Chop up potatoes into bite size pieces and add to the pot.

Do the same for the carrots.

Pour in the half can of diced Tomatoes.

Add the salt, pepper, paprika, parsley and thyme.

Rinse the pearl barley under water (this is a must or the flavor will be off).

Add to pot.

Stir everything together.

Add in the beef stock, bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and then let simmer for 30 minutes. This will cook the carrots, potatoes, barley and to allow the flavors to combined.

After the 30 minutes, serve and enjoy!

Now, what happened to my "soup" and why does it look more like a pasta dish? After simmering for 30 minutes, I had to take my son to his hockey game. I turned off the stove, covered the pot and left. 2 hours later when I returned, I opened the lid to find that the pearl barley had absorbed all of the liquid! I dished out the "soup" for lunch as is and it was pretty good.

For next time I can reduce the amount of pearl barley from 1.5 cups down to 2 and add an additional cup of beef broth or water. As for the rest of my "soup", I have put it in containers but I will add 1/2 - 1 cup of water to it before heating it up to eat. I don't want to add it now just in case the barley decides to try and absorb it all over again :)