Ingredients
Scale
- 1/2 of an onion, peeled & chopped
- 2 – 3 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
- 1/2 cup of cooked lean beef (or wild game) in small chunks (or more … I just saved out a bit of the cooked meat before adding the BBQ sauce when I made my Crockpot BBQ Beef)
- 1/2 cup celery stalks, chopped
- 2 – 3 cups of beef broth
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 cup of cooked white beans (canned is ok, I cooked my own)
- 1/3 cup quick-cooking barley UNCOOKED
- 1 Tablespoon of salsa
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon Red Robin Seasoning (or your favorite seasoned salt)
- 1/2 teaspoon Frank’s hot sauce (or hot sauce of your choice)
- 1/2 cup chopped sweet pepper
- 1 cup of celery leaves, chopped coarsely
Instructions
- If you are starting with the broth and a bit of the beef resulting from my Outta the Park crockpot BBQ beef sandwiches (recipe here), you are a step ahead of the game! Sautee your celery in a saucepan over medium heat in just a dab of olive oil or butter till softened slightly. Then add your broth & meat that you reserved from the crockpot and proceed to step 3.
- If you are NOT starting from that recipe, briefly sautee your onion and garlic in a tish of butter or olive oil (like 1/2 teaspoon) until the onion is soft and translucent. Add in the broth, beef and bay leaf.
- Stir in the cooked beans, uncooked barley, salsa, paprika, Red Robin seasoning and hot sauce and let cook for 10 minutes or until the barley is cooked through and everything is good and hot.
- Add the sweet pepper and cook for 5 minutes longer, then add the celery leaves right before serving.
- This soup is even better if you let it cool a bit, put it in a covered container in the fridge and wait until the next day to re-heat and eat it.