A Simple Catch All + Beef Vegetable Barley Soup

Got off the train from work to find the surprise of all four of my boys waiting for me.  The big boys brought their scooters and we had a nice walk home together.

Sitting here helping my son do his homework now.  He is SUCH a procrastinator.  He doesn't understand yet that if he just focused on it he'd get it over with we'd be done.  Instead it takes twice the amount of time because he complains every 2 minutes.  He just picked his nose and tried to wipe it on the tablecloth.  I CAN'T.

Although it may not be tasteful to switch from that sentence to what we ate for dinner, I am doing it anyway.

We had a beef vegetable barley soup in the crockpot.  It was pretty good and my oldest had a few bowls full.

Found the recipe in Gooseberry Patch's Hometown Harvest, but had to modify it a bit based on ingredients I had on hand.  

Beef  Vegetable Barley

Put in the crock 5 cups of water with carrots, beef bouillon, celery, frozen corn, stew meat, onion, can of stewed tomatoes, barley and that was it.  I never put in a ton of red meat when I cook soups and stews --- -- it's not really healthy anyway and a little goes a long way.  Plus organic beef can cost a small fortune. Cooked for 10 hours and came home to a hearty soup.  Although it was hot again today so not the most appropriate meal.

Homework is finally done.  Now off to do piano practice for 30 seconds before bed.  

Get It Done Tip: Have you ever seen these clear folders with the embedded tabs?  

Someone I know who is a crazy organized working mom introduced them to me a few years ago.  You can buy them at Staples.  

I use them for so many things -- keeping all the piano books, sheet music together.  

When we go on a trip somewhere I create one and put hotel itineraries, tickets to events - amusement parks, shows, etc. 

Each school year gets one and collects any things I need to keep in a drawer.  When I see recipes I like that are hard copy they get one.  Etc.

I like that only one side and top have an opening so things are kept together nice, you can see what is inside, it fits in a drawer, you can throw it in your bag.  I am a big fan!