Slow Cooker Vegetable Beef Barley Soup

I have been wanting a slow cooker for a while now, and finally took the plunge. It does take some getting used to, but the ability to throw it together ,set it, and forget it - I'm sold! If you want to make this in a regular stock pot, that's easy! Just brown the meat and onions, combine everything else, simmer covered until the celery is almost done, then add your barley and simmer for another 45 min.

Ingredients:

• 1 large or 2 medium steaks, cut into small 1/2" cubes
• 1/2 onion, chopped fine
• 2-3 fresh roma tomatoes, chopped (or use 1 can diced tomatoes, juice and all)
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/4 tsp celery seed
• 1 Tbl dried parsley 
• 4 beef bouillon cubes
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 Tbl soy sauce
• 3 quarts Homemade Vegetable Broth
• two 12-oz bags frozen mixed veggies (peas,carrots, green beans, corn)
• 3 ribs of celery, chopped fine
• 1 C plain pearled barley (do not use the quick cooking kind!)

Instructions:

1. If you have the broth made ahead of time, bring it to a boil in a separate pan to speed up the heating process. Slow cookers take a long time to heat up that much liquid, and it becomes a food safety issue. I just made the broth right then, so it would be hot going into the slow cooker.
2. Combine everything in your slow cooker and cook on low for 4 hours. 

Pepper Steak and Rice

Hearty, spicy, satisfying, and pretty easy to make. This will take about an hour and a half to make and feed 6 people easily. Cut the recipe in half if you need to. For a while there, I had 6-10 people to feed on any given night, and I really need to learn how to cook smaller batches of food!

Ingredients:

• 2 lb steak, stew meat, beef roast, any kind as long as it's beef. Cut into cubes.
• Vegetable oil
• 1 large can crushed tomatoes
• 3 Roma tomatoes, chopped
• 3/4 sweet onion, sliced julienne style
• 3 bell peppers, any color, sliced into 1-2 inch strips 
• 2 C beef broth, chicken broth, or Homemade Vegetable Broth
• 3 cubes of beef bouillon 
• 4 cloves of garlic, pressed
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
• 2 tsp chili powder
• 1 Tbl paprika

• 1/4 C soy sauce
• 3 Tbl corn starch
• Jar to make the gravy with 
• Salt to taste, at the end

For the Perfect Rice:

• 2 C parboiled rice
• 4 C water

Instructions:

1. Cut the beef into cubes. You can make just about any steak work, from very thin to very thick, just cut it into bite-size pieces.
2. Pour a little bit of oil into a large, deep skillet. Add the meat and chopped onions and peppers. Cook until the meat is well browned.
   
3. Add the crushed tomatoes, chopped tomatoes, broth, and all spices (save the soy sauce and corn starch to make the gravy thicker). 
   
4. Cover and simmer for an hour, stirring occasionally.
5. At the end of that hour, start making the rice. It should take 15-20 minutes to cook. Keep shaking the pan while it's covered to prevent the rice from sticking. 
6. Remove from heat and let the rice stand for 5 more minutes, covered.
7. Combine the 1/4 C soy sauce and corn starch in the jar. Make sure the lid is on tight and shake it until contents are smooth. 
8. Bring the pepper steak to a soft boil, and start adding your corn starch mixture while stirring until desired thickness is reached.
9. Salt to taste and serve! 

No-Lump Gravy and Sauce

You know why boxed pasta meals are so popular? Because they give you this powder stuff that makes a yummy sauce. You can do that yourself at home! You know what you like and what tastes good, all you need to do is thicken it. So here's an easy way to thicken any sauce, to make any gravy, with NO LUMPS:

• The next time you use a glass jar, wash it out and keep it. Any kind of glass jar with a lid will work: a jelly jar, a pesto jar, salsa, you get the idea. Keep that sucker.
  
• When you're ready to thicken your sauce/gravy, add some water, chicken broth, whatever you're working with to that jar - but it has to be cold or at room temperature. (Hot liquid will make lumps.) You can use plain water if you want, or you can use broth, white wine, or soy sauce like I'm doing here, to add extra flavor to the dish.
• Add flour or corn starch. I prefer flour for a thicker gravy (for pot roast, biscuits, or pork chops, for example) and corn starch for a lighter sauce texture (for pasta, vegetable, and Asian dishes). Just dump some in your jar. You'll figure out how much you need in a minute.
  
• Make sure the lid is on tightly and shake! Shake the hell out of it until you can see that it is a smooth mixture. Then pour a little into your pan, stirring while adding, and bring to a gentle boil. Add in parts while boiling. Keep stirring. If it's not thick enough, add more of your jar mixture.
  
• Voila. No lumps!