I made beef barley soup tonight. I know, it ain’t quiche, but I love it and I am, once again, sharing the recipe with you.

You will need:

* Beef! I used stewing beef plus two soup bones that were in the freezer, but I’ve used leftover steak before and it turned out
okay. Not quite as good.
* 1 cup chopped onion
* Chopped celery (I used 4 stalks)
* Chopped carrots (I used 4 medium carrots)
* 1 cup dry barley
* 12-ish cups beef broth (you can use the stuff in a package, or get the OXO cubes, or whatever. Here’s a recipe for making your own beef stock and yes, it is way better than store-bought, but I’ve only done it like this maybe four times in my life because it takes all frickin’ day.
* salt and pepper (only you don’t really need salt if you’re using storebought beef stock because that stuff’s loaded with it) (unless you go low-sodium which I always do but still)
*Tabasco sauce (yes, Tabasco. You don’t need to, but I do, and this is my recipe).

Chop up all your vegetables and your meats and such. If your hands get all oniony smelling, go to your kitchen sink, get your hands wet, and touch the sides of the sink (if it’s a stainless steel sink. If it’s not, you’re doomed to smell like onions forever! Or you could touch like, a stainless steel knife or spoon or something). It takes the onion smell away. Why? Because of magic.

Put all that stuff in your slow-cooker, along with the barley and beef stock and one or two dashes of Tabasco (or more if you’re like that). Put your slow-cooker on low, and walk away for 7 or 8 hours. Or, put it on high, and come back in four hours. You might come back a couple of times and stir things, if you want. I generally add some water at some point because I find that the water has been evaporating and the soup’s getting all thick and I don’t want it to… but you don’t have to do that.
Eventually, you will have soup! It’s really good, too.

You could also do this in just a regular pot but that means you have to do all this checking and stirring and temperature adjustment stuff. I am the Lazy Chef. I try to avoid stirring and checking as much as I possibly can.

Make sure not to drop in any earrings, cufflinks, or eyeglasses (my mom has lost jewelry in food before. It’s crazy).