Hamburger Barley Soup Recipes are good!

This soup is one of our family favourites. I couldn't beleive I had not posted it before! It is fairly quick to throw together, then let is sit for about an hour to cook. One picky kid asks for us to not give her the whole tomatoes, put she still ate the onions, and cooked carrots without complaint.

This is a huge pot, so don't double the recipe, unless you plan to use a second pot!

1 1/2 lbs ground beef
10 cups water - sometimes I add more
3 tbsp beef bouillon soup base
3 cups sliced carrots
2 large onions, chopped
2 cups sliced celery
1/2 cup pearl barley
1 tsp salt
pepper to taste
2 bay leaves
1/4 cup ketchup
28 oz can tomatoes, undrained
10 oz tomato sauce

1 cup elbow pasta

Brown ground beef in a LARGE pot. Add to the pot all the remain ingedients, except pasta.
Bring to a boil. Lower the temperature, cover and simmer for about 1 hour. Add pasta and cook until tender, adding more water if it is needed.
Serve.

If you think this is great, the second day is even better. I always need to add more water (Pasta soaks it up) before reheating.