Barley Beef Stew

One of my pet peeves is wasting food. As a kid, I always finished my plate. I try to plan my trips to the store to account for nights where we won't be eating dinner at home. I hate throwing out food. What I hate even more, is the fact that Skinny Fat Kid can't cook and will spend money on takeout even though we have a full fridge. On most nights, he walks Izzy while I make dinner so its a bit difficult to get him involved and have him figure out where the stove is.
I was heading to Chicago for a long weekend with a fridge full of food and a hungry SFK. Before I hopped on the plane, I made up some of this barley burger stew. He gave it good reviews so I figured it was worthy of a post! And as an added bonus, I actually got to take pictures in natural sunlight!

Adapted from allrecipes.com

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1 pound 93% lean ground beef
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 4 cups tomato juice
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup medium pearl barley
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Directions:

• In a large pot or Dutch oven, cook ground beef and onion until meat is no longer pink. Drain, if necessary.
• Add in tomato juice, water, barley, chili powder and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 50-60 minutes or until barley is tender.