Friday, January 29, 2010

Bean and Barley Vegetable Soup


I have been pretty busy lately. I force myself to go on a snail-paced walk once a day. Otherwise, I stay in the house. I don't work, but I do watch TV shows. I lay in bed. I carefully plan each trip up and down the stairs for maximum efficiency. So you can see why I would need to sometimes cook food that takes very little effort. That's how this soup got made.

Niall likes bell peppers. I don't. But sometimes, when I don't feel like eating (because I've been snacking on Triscuits all day), I'll make food with bell peppers. Niall also likes barley. So I did some checking for a vegetable soup with barley and ended up using a recipe from Circle B Kitchen. We didn't have all the ingredients on hand, and since I already went outside today, I just used what we had. Throw everything in a pot, lay down (in the living room, to avoid having to go up and down the stairs) for an hour, and soup's on.

Ingredients
2 Tablespoons olive oil
3/4 yellow onion, diced
2 Tablespoons tomato paste
1 carrot, peeled and diced
1 potato, peeled and diced
1 red bell pepper, seeds removed and diced
1/2 cup split red lentils
1/2 cup barley
1 can kidney beans, washed and rinsed
Spices* (Granulated garlic, thyme, sage, Adobo seasoning, salt and pepper)

Wash and prep the vegetables. Heat the oil in the pan. Add the onion and allow it to saute. Add bell pepper and continue to cook.


Add the rest of the vegetables and tomato paste and stir. Cook for a few minutes, the add the spices.


Add the lentils, barley and beans. Fill the pan with enough water to cover the items by 1-2 inches of water.


Simmer, partially covered (um, I put the lid on but not all the way) for about an hour.


Serve, and hope your husband gets all the bell pepper.



*I tried to just flavor with spices, but gave up and in the end ended up throwing in half a vegetable stock cube.

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