whole foods mushroom barley soup im kind of sick and i was craving whole foods mushroom barley soup. i went there to get some bulk barley and low and behold they had the soup in the prepared foods section. i still made some though.

Ingredients
1 pound cubed beef stew meat
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 cups water
2 tablespoons margarine
2 large carrots, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced
6 cups water
3 cubes beef bouillon cube
1/4 cup pearl barley
1/4 cup sour cream

Directions
1.Brown small cubes of stew meat in vegetable oil over medium heat until juices become a rich brown color. Add 2 cups water, and simmer meat while preparing the vegetables.
2.In a large soup pot, melt butter or margarine over medium heat. Saute carrots, onion, garlic, celery, and mushrooms.
3.Add meat, 6 cups water, bouillon cubes, and barley to vegetable mixture. Cook until barley is soft. Adjust liquid and seasoning as desired. Remove from heat, and stir in sour cream. Serve immediately.

i opted to leave the meat on the rare side and it came out really tender! i skipped the boullion and used beef stock instead. i also used a LOT of mushrooms. different varieties too. and more like close to 1cup barley i also saw on another blog that the best way to freeze soup was in muffin tins. so i tried that. the freezer was already jammed packed so i had to clear some room. otherwise it worked out.