beef barley lentil soup

i confess: not sure if this is my all-time favorite soup recipe..... but nevertheless it was good and, yeah, i'd make it again. why not. maybe i am just not so crazy about it personally, but i know there are people out there that would go nuts over it-- my mother, being one for sure.

i took the recipe for Taste of Home's "Beef Barley Lentil Soup" and modified it here and there- making changes and adding in stuff i wanted.
*caution* - it made a HUGE pot. :) like we ate it for supper two nights, bud ate it for breakfast on the 3rd day (yes, breakfast, lol)... AND i still froze two quart-sized baggies.

ingredients:
1.25 pounds stew beef (i think what i bought was chuck, cut up in chunks)
1 medium onion, chopped (i used 1/2 a HUGE giant sweet onion)
4 *big* red potatoes, diced in small chunks (or enough potatoes to make ~2 cups)
3 stalks celery, diced
3 carrots, peeled & diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup dried lentils, rinsed
1 cup barley
64 oz. reduced-sodium beef broth (two 32 oz. cartons)
1 large can (28 oz) whole peeled tomatoes 
fresh spinach leaves, washed and torn (i used probably 1 to 1/2 cup?)
1/2 to 1 tsp. thyme
1 bay leaf
Oil for the pot (~2 to 3 tbsp.)
Lawry's seasoned salt
Worchestershire sauce (a dash)
pepper


directions:

in your biggest soup pot, add the oil and let it heat up a little. add meat; make sure to leave room for the pieces. overcrowding leads to poor browning. and you WANT your beef pieces to brown... browned meat tastes GOOD. 

turn the pieces on all sides to try to achieve as much browning as possible.  season beef with Lawry's and pepper-- and a few dashes of Worchestershire sauce (cause let's face it: W-shire sauce makes everything more delightful). :)

move your pieces and put them on a plate while you brown the other ones.  when you're done, move all pieces to the plate (successfully creating a "meat mountain"). :)


i got excited/was working hard on these next few steps, so i forgot to take pictures.. sorry.  now you need to add in your onions, carrots, celery, (a mirepoix, if you want to be french) :).. and saute' them in all the oily goodness left by the beef-- scraping the pan as you go. Heck, here i added a Tablespoon of butter, too... i couldn't resist. ;)  Add in your garlic after you let your mirepoix cook for a couple minutes. season this layer with a little more salt and pepper; and the thyme-- however much you want. i probably used a tsp.  **and don't forget to add in the celery leaves, too, if they came on the stalks-- they are soo good!

 

put the stew beef back in the pot. add the potatoes, and open your can of tomatoes, adding the juice, and carefully plopping out one tomato into your hand at a time, crushing it and adding to the pot.

stir everything together, add the bay leaf, taste, and season accordingly.
bring to a boil... let cool till everything is tender (especially test the harder things in the soup: the carrots, lentils, and potatoes)

when you're getting close to wanting to serve the soup, throw in your handful or two of torn spinach leaves, and let them cook for 5-10 minutes or so to wilt the leaves.

when everything is done, remove the bay leaf and serve in bowls with your favorite bread of choice (i made biscuits... from a can. who wants to do homemade after all of that chopping and cleaning? come on. if you know such people, send them to my house to also do the dishes, if they're that ambitious.) :)

a walk in the park

bud and i took a walk in the park on wednesday; it was GORGEOUS.  ptL we got to experience the warmth of the sun and some of (the remaining!..) fall colors before the wind blows all the trees leaves away into the winter bareness.

enjoy a few pictures (taken with our new camera!... which i still don't know how to use, lol... but i did my best). :)  enjoy!

lovely colors!

i absolutely **love** a river in a park. :)

i love how these two trees are growing together... AWWWW.

a fully uprooted fallen tree. whoa.

the flood plain!

oh, hello there. a 10(?)-point-buck!

sweetheart.

the reason he was hanging around.... :)

look at this sweet, younger little mister. doesn't he have sweet eyes? :)

6 months of marriage

today, i am grateful for 6 months of married life.

thanks for stopping in to read today; if you want to, feel free to join me in praying for my marriage today.

Lord, thank You so much for 6 months of marriage, and for providing me such a wonderful husband to share my life with.  Lord, I am so thankful for him; he reflects Your love and forgiveness to me over and over again.

I pray You would protect our marriage from anything that would harm or destroy it. Shield it from our own selfishness and neglect, from the evil plans and desires of others, and from unhealthy or dangerous situations.  May there be no thoughts of divorce or infidelity in our hearts, and none in our future. Set us free from past hurts, memories, and unrealistic expectations of one another. I pray that there be no jealousy in either of us, or the low self-esteem that precedes that. Let nothing come into our hearts and habits that would threaten our marriage in any way.  

Unite us in a bond of friendship, commitment, generosity, and understanding. Eliminate our immaturity, hostility, or feelings of inadequacy. Help us to make time for one another alone, to nurture and renew our marriage and remind ourselves of the reasons we were married in the first place. I pray that Bud (and me, too!) will be so committed to You, Lord, that his (and my!) commitment to me will not waiver, no matter what storms come. I pray that our love for each other will grow stronger every day, and help us to be used by You to love others and bring grace and truth to people around us. Fill us with Your Spirit, Lord, so that we can truly love one another out of Your strength and not our own.  In Jesus' precious name---- Amen.

adapted from The Power of a Praying Wife, Stormie Omartian (1997, Harvest House Publishers)

buttermilk pancakes

a few days ago, i bought a pint of buttermilk, thinking i was going to make these delicious cheddar bacon drop biscuits to go with some baked potato soup i was simmering on the stove... but i never got around to it.

what luck for me that this buttermilk was sitting in my fridge-- ready for my friday morning pancake craving. :)

  

buttermilk pancakes, adapted from martha 

ingredients: 

2 cups flour

2 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs (beaten slightly)

2 cups buttermilk (shaken!!)

1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup melted butter 

mix all ingredients together (i did dry first, then incorporated wet.)

tip from martha: make sure your batter is still lumpy.  

lumpy batter makes good buttermilk pancakes.

flip when you see the bubbles!

  if you have a nonstick griddle, there is total freedom whether or not you want to butter your griddle, prior to frying your cakes.  sometimes i like to, because the butter gives it a nice extra crispiness, but other times (due to watching my cals or just being absentminded).. i don't grease my griddle.  in my opinion, either way will give you nice pancakes. :)

happy friday morning! :)

NEW CAMERA: ptL!

from

OH PRAISE THE LORD!!!!

i will for sure be blogging more often because i actually have a way to capture PICTURES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


ohhhh glorious investment: my first DSLR.  i am SO THANKFUL for this new little camera: the nikon d5100.  (AND thankful that i've been saving for a long time for this-- as WELL as capitalizing on the awesome sale that was happening at best buy). :)

i'm praying i will be faithful to know how to use it and really work with it to its full potential!!

thanks for rejoicing with me on this great new step in my life!  i am SO GRATEFUL! :)

pity the kitty

she started out as a little stray cat at my mom's house. 

for the first 4 years of her life, she lived outside, braving all four seasons that ohio threw at her.

when we got married, we made the decision to adopt this little sweetheart and bring her inside.  at first, she was super-nervous as this was her first attempt at indoor-life.  however, she slowly emerged as a kitty cat who has had an indoor-loving-heart all along.

she loves to snuggle and play and is such a good little friend.

pity jane-- you are precious!  we are thankful for you, our little furry friend. :)

stuck like glue

my husband rocks.

upon seeing a huge pitcher full of flowers when i arrived back home from being out-of-town at our dear friends' wedding, my heart melted.

to my dearest hubby:

yes, i know, dear, that you are so busy.

i know that you have so much to read and learn.

i know that your hours at work are long.

i know that you have so many other friends to talk to and pursue.

however, you make TIME for me. :)

thanks.

i left him a present the next morning--- a song, cued up on our iPod dock, and some of the lyrics, printed on a little card (which you can see, written out right by the vase.)

enjoy my flowers--- and the song. :)