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Skinny Beef, Vegetable and Barley Soup (Crock Pot or Stove Top)

 

Skinny Beef, Vegetable and Barley Soup (Crock Pot or Stove Top)
If you love a thick, flavorful, hearty soup, this one’s for you!!! And serving a main course soup for dinner is so healthy and satisfying. Any leftovers freeze great. I’ve included directions for cooking this easy, one-dish meal either on the stovetop or crockpot. Each serving (1½ cups) has only 172 calories and 2 grams of fat. Serve with a side salad and you are all set for dinner!
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Crock Pot Time on Low: 8 hours
Total Time 8 hours 20 minutes
Servings 8
Calories 172kcal

Ingredients

  • 1 pound package lean ground beef (96%), see shopping tips
  • 2 (32-oz) containers Swanson’s reduced-sodium beef broth or your favorite broth
  • 1 (14.5 oz) can Swanson’s reduced-sodium beef broth
  • 1 (14.5 oz) can tomatoes, diced
  • ¾ cup dried pearl barley, see shopping tips
  • cups carrots, sliced
  • cups celery, sliced
  • cups onions, chopped
  • cups zucchini, chopped
  • 2 teaspoons fresh garlic, minced
  • 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 bay leaf
  • ½ teaspoon dried thyme
  • ½ teaspoon dried sage
  • Fresh ground pepper, to taste
  • 3 cups fresh spinach leaves

Instructions

Instructions for Stove-Top:

  • In a large nonstick pot or pan, brown ground beef. Pour into a colander in sink and drain fat. Add beef back to pot. Pour in all the beef broth, tomatoes, and barley. Bring to a boil, turn down to simmer, cover pot, and cook for 15 minutes.
  • Add the carrots, celery, onions, zucchini, and garlic to the broth. Stir in Worcestershire sauce, bay leaf, thyme, sage, and fresh ground pepper. Cook uncovered 50 minutes.
  • Stir in spinach leaves and cook 2 minutes more. Remove the bay leaf.

Instructions for Crock-Pot:

  • Note: You’ll need a large (6 quart) crock-pot. If you don’t have one this large, you can use a smaller crock-pot and cut the recipe in half.
  • In a large nonstick pot or pan, brown ground beef. Pour into a colander in sink and drain fat.
  • Place beef and all ingredients in the crock-pot, except spinach. Mix together well.
  • Cover and cook on LOW for 7-8 hours or on HIGH heat for 3½ hours until veggies and barley are soft. Stir in spinach, cover, and cook on high for 15 minutes. Remove bay leaf.
  • This soup freezes great.

Notes

Makes 12 cups total: 8 main course servings (1½ cups each)
 
Healthy Benefits
Pearled barley is high in cholesterol-lowering fiber and very low in fat. A single serving offers 11% of the RDA of iron and has a fair amount of folate and niacin.

Shopping Tips
Trader Joe’s extra lean ground beef is a terrific, healthy choice. It has 130 calories and 4 grams of fat for 4 ounces. If you can’t find beef this lean, look for the leanest kind you can find. The fat will cut down more since you drain the fat in a colander after browning.
You can find dried pearl barley in the supermarket aisle with the dried beans.

Looking to buy a crock-pot? Here’s one of my favorites: 
Crock-Pot SCCPVL610-S 6-Quart Programmable Cook and Carry Oval Slow Cooker, Digital Timer, Stainless Steel
 
WW Freestyle SmartPoints 3-Blue
WW SmartPoints
3-Green
WW POINTS PLUS
4
 
SKINNY FACTS: for 1½ cups serving
172 calories, 2g fat, 1g sat. fat, 25mg chol, 17g protein, 21g carbs, 4g fiber, 704mg sodium, 4g sugar
FACTS: for SmartPoints
142 calories, 1g sat. fat, 2g sugar, 16g protein

Skinny Facts

Serving: 1.5cupsCalories: 172kcalCarbohydrates: 21gProtein: 17gFat: 2gSaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 25mgSodium: 704mgFiber: 4gSugar: 4gBlue Smart Points: 3Green Smart Points: 3Plus Points: 4

Comments

  1. Actually, you’ll use 2 (32-oz) containers Swanson’s reduced-sodium beef broth plus
    1 (14.5 oz) can Swanson’s reduced-sodium beef broth. So you’ll use 78.5 ounces in total.
    Enjoy your hearty soup meal, Megan!
    My best,
    Nancy

If you make this recipe, let me know how you liked it. Leave me a comment below or give it a rating. Thanks so much. Happy Skinny Cooking!

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