Cooking with Peggy

By Peggy Guntis

Hi everyone! When you read this, Jim and I will have made the 2,000-mile trip from Tucson and be comfortably settled into our McCarthy home. I will have been able to sit and have coffee with Bonnie and her wonderful mother, Neta, and Jim will have pulled out the chess board, and we will have hugged our granddaughter, Anna, for the first time since we left last September.

I will also be cooking up a storm for all our summer visitors. Let me share some recipes.

Since I wrote you last time, I received a WONDERFUL recipe from Kristin, one of our readers in New Hampshire. I couldn’t wait to try it, because we eat soups all year ‘round. It is so... good!

Beef Barley Soup

½ lb. lean ground beef or stew beef
½ cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
7 cups water
16 oz. can diced tomatoes
½ cup pearl barley
½ cup sliced/chopped celery
½ cup sliced/chopped carrots
2 beef bouillon cubes
1 teaspoon basil
1 bay leaf
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
9 oz. frozen mixed vegetables

In Dutch Oven, brown beef. Add onion and garlic. Cook until onion is tender; drain. Add remaining ingredients, except frozen vegetables. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low; cover. Simmer 40 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add frozen vegetables and cook 10-15 minutes more or until veggies and barley are tender. Add additional water if soup becomes too thick.

Kristin added that she uses whatever she has on hand and just makes substitutions as she needs to. I had a little of both kinds of meat so used them both.

Here is one from an old friend of mine from Virginia that is perfect if you live next door to Bonnie’s garden.

Easy Garden Pie

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