Beef Barley Soup - cooking recipe

Ingredients

1/2 cup pearl barley
1 lb beef stew meat, cut into small pieces
1 medium onion, sliced thin
3 garlic cloves, crushed or 1 teaspoon garlic powder
3 celery ribs, sliced
4 carrots, sliced
1 (11 ounce) can corn
1 bay leaf
1 pinch dried basil
1 teaspoon salt (to taste)
3 ounces tomato paste, 1/2 small can
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup red wine, white can be used too
3 cups water
3 cups beef stock, homemade preferred but packaged is fine

Preparation

In a large skillet brown onions and beef, do not crowd, do in batches if needed.
In a stock pot, put 3 cups of water with the barley, garlic, basil, salt and bay leaf.
Add browned beef and onions to stock pot.
Deglaze skillet with wine and add to stock pot.
Bring to a simmer and cover, simmer for 30 minutes, stir occasionally.
Add Worcestershire, carrots, celery, tomato paste and beef stock.
bring back to simmer, cover and simmer for 35 minutes, stir occasionally.
Add corn bring back to simmer for 5 minutes.
Add 1/2 to 1 tsp fresh ground pepper if desired, taste and adjust salt to your taste.