Beef Barley Soup

Rather than have French dip sandwiches again, I took a diced a cup of the leftover beef and used about 2 cups of the leftover au jus in this soup. Often when I make a beef-based soup I use about half chicken stock and half beef stock, as I did here. Add a couple of chopped carrots, a chopped onion, and 1/2 cup barley or rice (or diced potatoes) and you've got a simple but good soup.

4 cups broth (I like half chicken and half beef)
2-3 carrots, sliced or diced, whichever shape you like
1 onion, chopped
1 cup chopped or shredded leftover cooked roast beef
1/2 cup barley
salt and pepper to taste

Start to bring the broths to a boil while you peel and chop the carrots and onion. Add them to the soup pot as they're ready. Add the beef and barley as well when it gets to a simmer. Simmer covered about 45 minutes (however long it takes for your barley) to cook. Taste and add salt and pepper as desired. Homemade broths are generally much less salty than store-bought so more or less salt will be needed depending on your tastes and what broth you started you used.