The wind is blowing like crazy today! If it wasn’t for the wind then it would have been a beautiful day! But since it’s so cold.. it’s soup for dinner tonight!
Yep another instant pot recipe! With a toaster oven recipe on the side lol
So beef barley soup isn’t hard to make at all, especially with an instant pot. I cook mine on manual high for 60 minutes and then switch it over to slow cooker mode until everyone is ready to eat. I like my meat tender and falling apart so I like to let it cook awhile longer lol but I wait to add the veggies till later so they are still nice and crispy (not all mushy).
So here is what I toss in first: some cubes meat (about 1 or 2 lbs worth), some mushrooms (fresh or from the can doesn’t matter), a tablespoon each of better than bouillon brand vegetable broth and beef broth, a bit of fresh garlic, a dash of smoked salt, and a couple dishes of worchestire sauce… With pepper to taste (light or heavy up to you). And of course enough water to cover it all with an extra inch or two above so that when the barley cooks and soaks up water you still have broth!
Once it has cooked and I switch it over to slow cook mode… that’s when I add the veggies. I usually just add carrots since we always have carrots as a puppy snack for Conestoga Chuck (he loves his carrots!) but feel free to add what you like. Frozen mixed veggies work nice if you have them.
Now for the biscuits. Unless you want to heat up the whole house by using the big oven, or want to double the batch to have a bunch of biscuits for a large family… try making them in the toaster oven! Less energy used and works nicely for small batches. Since toaster ovens vary on their user instructions watch the biscuits the first time you make them and adjust as needed… but the general rule of thumb is 425 degrees for 10 minutes.
Now for the biscuit recipe:
Mix in a bowl: 2 cups flour, 1 tablespoon baking powder, 1/2 cup butter (room temp and cut the butter into the flour before adding the wet ingredients), 1/2 teaspoon salt. For wet ingredients mix 1/2 cup warm tap water with 4 heaping tablespoons powdered milk (this should give you about 3/4 cup of milk once mixed so just add a bit more water if needed to get to 3/4 cup). I don’t roll and cut my biscuits I just pinch some dough off, roll it in a ball and flatten it some. I usually get about 6 maybe 7 biscuits from this recipe. I also spray the pan with some olive oil spray to keep the biscuits from sticking.
This combination is also super easy to do while camping because it doesn’t take a lot of effort, a lot of pots and pans etc. I always carry my instant pot and the toaster oven in the RV! Most of the ingredients are thing I have readily in hand and the rest can easily be picked up at a local grocery store. A big pot of soup and a lot of biscuits can heartily feed a lot of people inexpensively too!
Side note on why it’s important to watch things as they cook in a toaster oven: I forgot to move my rack down to the lower slot when I put these in the oven so some of my biscuits got a bit crispy on top this time lol but still yummy! I only burnt the top of a couple of biscuits before I noticed the rack was not in the right spot. It was in the “broil” position (sigh)…. That happens when you have multiple cooks using the same equipment in the house! But fortunately I caught it and the biscuits are still yummy!
Conestoga Chuck 