Beef Barley Soup

This recipe is inspired by the Intellectual dimension of wellness.

Intellectual wellness is about learning and maximizing your cognitive abilities. The learning process includes five basic steps: readiness, stimulus, discovery, response, and application. Intellectual wellness depends on a daily habit of feeding your brain with material that expands your knowledge and world view in addition to challenging and engaging your higher level thinking skills.

“Life is the most difficult exam. Many people fail because they copy others, not realizing that everyone has a different question paper.” - Jeremy McGilvrey

Recently, I had the pleasure of conversing with an old acquaintance from high school. It was fun to look back on those years and see how much both of us have changed. However, I woke up the next morning feeling uneasy about it. I couldn’t put my finger on it at first, but then I realized how traumatic my life was during my high school years and how I really pushed my feelings aside during that time period. It was hard enough being a teenager, but around that time my home life had been changed forever - my father died my sophomore year. Unfortunately, I don’t remember any teachers even recognizing it, nor most of my peers. In fact, as I’ve come to realize later in life, people feel uncomfortable with death and don't know what to say. Anyway, that’s for another blog post…

“No one in the world has had the same experiences or influences that you have.” - Quotable Chef

One thing I learned early on was that I was different. I never fit into a specific group and pretty much played to a different drum. I was a deep thinker, always trying to figure people out and why they did or said things. But, more importantly, I was trying to figure out who I was. I recall moving from one lunch table to the next in high school, seeking out conversations that were interesting. If they weren’t, I would move on. Now, please don’t confuse me as this great intellectual type; I was barely making my grades in school! Rather, I was more interested in the emotional side of people and what made them tick.

“The only job on this planet is to be really good at being yourself.” - Quotable Chef

As a teenager faced with the loss of a parent, change and catastrophic experiences heightened my awareness, but I learned how to embrace it, move with it, and most importantly, use it as a force in growing toward a new direction. Most would rather sleep walk than wake up during hard times. But for me, something happened that rocked me back. My experience through loss helped me adapt quickly, even if it meant I had to move away from people, places, and things. When really scary things happened to me, I knew I needed to move, so I would take a new direction with confidence.

When you think about your identity, think about what it means to be alive. Think about why you deserve to be on this earth. I realized that we are not our feelings, our thoughts, possessions or professions. There is something underneath all that. And when you figure that out, that is when you tap into your inner voice. Your entire life is about building a relationship with yourself, so you better like who you are!

What I learned from loss and the way it changed me as a child and later on into adulthood was one of my greatest gifts. I learned that being different is not a bad thing and that we all have our own unique special talents to share with the world. And, if you can tap into your inner voice, you might just end up being someone you like, and that’s YOU!

“Always be a first rate version of yourself and not a second rate version of someone else.” - Judy Garland

Recipe of the Day: Beef Barley Soup

INGREDIENTS

• 1 tablespoon olive oil

• 1 onion chopped

• 1 garlic clove minced

• 2 carrots sliced

• 1 stalk celery sliced

• 2 cups cooked beef

• 6 cups reduced sodium beef broth

• 1 can petite diced tomatoes 14-15 oz, undrained

• ½ green pepper diced

• ⅔ cup barley

• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

• ¼ teaspoon dried thyme

• 1 package beef gravy mix

• 1 bay leaf

• 2 tablespoons red wine optional

• 2 tablespoons fresh parsley or 2 teaspoons dried

• salt & pepper to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Cook onions and garlic in oil over medium heat until softened.

2. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer covered about 40-50 minutes or until barley is cooked.

3. Remove bay leaf and serve.