Beef Shank Soup With Vegetables - cooking recipe

Ingredients

2 large beef shanks
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cups carrots (sliced chunky)
1 onion, diced
1/2 cup celery, sliced
2 cups cabbage, chopped
8 cups water
32 ounces beef broth
2 teaspoons Kitchen Bouquet
1 (12 ounce) can stewed tomatoes, chopped with liquid (or larger)
1 cup okra, frozen slices (I hate okra but it's good in this recipe)
1/2 cup peas (frozen)
1/4 cup corn (frozen)
1/4 cup barley
1 teaspoon basil, dried
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon McCormick's Montreal Brand steak seasoning
1 tablespoon chives, snipped (or freeze-dried)
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1 bay leaf, whole

Preparation

Brown the beef shanks in the olive oil until nice and browned. Add water and cook until the beef falls off of the bone and the marrow is cooked out of the center of the bones, about 3 hours.
Strain the broth through several changes of wet paper towels to get rid of the icky little protein globs and fat. Remove meat from the bones, remove the fat and dice the meat.
Wash the pot and add a little more olive oil and carrots, onion, celery and cabbage and cook on medium heat until they are beginning to color.
Add the meat, stock, broth and the remaining veggies, barley and spices and cook on medium low for a couple of hours. Remove the bay leaf.
Taste it to see if you need to adjust the salt or pepper. This holds nicely in a crock pot for hours.