Chunky Beef Vegetable Minestrone

Total Time: 1 hr 30 mins Preparation Time: 30 mins Cook Time: 1 hr

Ingredients

• Servings: 6
• 3 strips cooked bacon (i use pre-cooked)
• 1/2 lb lean ground beef
• 2 carrots, finely sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced or crushed
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 1 stalk celery, finely chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon dry basil
• 1/2 teaspoon dried italian seasoning
• 1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 1 (900 ml) box beef broth (i use low sodium kind)
• 1/4 cup uncooked barley
• 1/2 cup egg noodles (i use extra fine)
• salt, to taste

Recipe

• 1 cook bacon until crisp and remove and liquid (avoid this step by using pre-cooked bacon).
• 2 cut bacon into small pieces and put in large stock pot.
• 3 cook ground beef in fry pan, remove any liquid then add ground beef to pot with bacon.
• 4 add carrots, garlic, onions and celery to fry pan and cook for about 5-10 minutes, stirring frequently, until softened then add to pot.
• 5 add bay leaves, basil, italian seasoning, canned tomatos and beef stock to pot.
• 6 bring to boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer for about 20 minutes.
• 7 add barley and egg noodles and simmer for another 30-45 minutes until barley is soft.
• 8 if soup becomes too thick for your liking, i recommend adding more beef broth but if not available, water will do but it will dilute the flavour.
• 9 check the flavour and if desired, add any of the following: salt, hot pepper flakes, parmesean cheese, italian blend seasoning or anything else to meet your desired outcome.