A Harvest Soup Kinda Day - RECIPE!

Today was cold and drizzly and foggy... it was a harvest soup day! My mom made up this recipe when we were little and it's been a family favorite ever since. It's hearty and healthy and quite delightful after a long cold day.

So when I woke up to foggy cold weather today I knew: I had to make Mom's Harvest Soup. Eisley and I made a trip to the store and spent less than $6 on the ingredients, you can't beat that! And the pot of soup will get us a few days worth of meals, so it's incredibly cost efficient.

Justin and I goofed around before dinner:

There's more embarrassing pictures that were taken with this one, but I'll spare you:

Too bad pictures can't capture all the giggles and silly voices we were doing when these pictures were taken...
While Eisley slept and slept and slept. [Note from the next day: Eisley slept and slept all evening and was up pigging out all night! She ate 4 times during the night and was full of energy - growth spurt much?]

Here's the recipe to Mom's Harvest Soup!

Ingredients:

1.5 lbs ground beef
6 cups cold water
6 beef bullion cubes
2 cups sliced carrots
1.5 cups chopped onion
1.5 cups sliced celery
3/4 cups barley
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
4-6 bay leaves (this is my favorite ingredient, don't skip it!)
28 oz can crushed tomatoes
8 oz can tomato sauce

Directions:
1. In a large pot, brown ground beef, drain, and cool for 10 mins. Add cold water and ice cubes, skim off fat.
2. Add all remaining ingredients and bring to a boil.
3. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 1 hour.

- Remove bay leaves before eating. Also, feel free to add more water if the soup feels too thick after simmering for a while or reheating the next day.

Enjoy!