Mushroom Barley Soup

When it’s cold outside, I could eat a warm cup of soup almost every day! This Mushroom Barley Soup is one of my favorites! It’s a great way to get some much needed fiber in the diet as well as nutrients that come from the assorted vegetables in this recipe. The vegetable serving sizes are just suggestions so feel free to creative by adding different vegetables and quantities!

Author/Source:

Christine @ Onceamonthmom.com

Ingredients:

• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 1/2 cup barley
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 carrots, sliced
• 2 parsnips, sliced
• 1/2 pound mushrooms, sliced
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 cup parsley, chopped
• salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. In a large pot, saute onion and garlic in oil until translucent.
2. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil.
3. Reduce heat and simmer for about one hour, or until barley is thoroughly cooked.

Freezing Directions:

Bring soup to room temperature and portion 1 cup servings into quart-sized freezer bags. To serve, thaw in refrigerator overnight, pour into bowl and heat in microwave at 50% power for 2 minutes.

Nutritional Information:

Servings: 4 • Serving Size: 1 cup • Calories: 186
Fat: 4 • Protein: 9 • Carbs: 24 • Fiber: 3.5 • WW Points +: 5

This Post will be linked at:

• Tempt My Tummy Tuesday at Blessed With Grace
• Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam
• Tuesdays at the Table with All the Small Stuff

He wants to examine everything.

Several weeks ago we started into really giving Isaac finger foods. We have been half-hearted but he was showing definite signs of being more interested in our food than his own pureed food. (I suppose a bit of me is excited to win his stomach back from Gerber too).

I have wrestled with this eating stage though. It is really hard for me. It just takes so long for him to eat a meal. I love watching him pick up all the foods and try new things, but goodness, it takes FOREVER. (And I just want to get to the pool)! Yes, I know I am being selfish again.

Actually, one of the hardest things about this stage for me is having good finger foods ready and available for him when he is ready to eat. I have heard many say, “I just feed him what we are eating.” Well, I haven’t exactly gotten into the swing of planning my meals to be edible by him yet. And for lunch I usually just warm up whatever looks good to me at the moment. And Isaac is usally ready to eat by then, he doesn’t want to wait for me to fix something.

So, I got to looking at the Happy Box and figured I could kill two birds with one stone; I can use up some of the produce before it goes bad and also set aside some good food for my little one.

So one afternoon I got my steamer out and started steaming some vegetables. I started with summer squash and broccoli. I steamed them in the steamer for about 20 minutes, let them cool, bagged them in single size portions, about 1/4 cup each, and put them in a gallon freezer bag. I then diced up some carrots and followed the same procedure. Now, when I need a fresh meal accompaniment (and I don’t have one already planned) I simply go to my beloved freezer and pull out a vegetable. It’s that easy!

Now the getting the child to eat it is another story. We definitely LOVE some broccoli. I usually have to give him that last if I want him to eat anything else. We like squash too. But carrots? He would rather do without carrots. I will keep trying though. . .

So as you are looking at some of that produce sprouting from your garden, remember that there is a little one that might just be excited to have you store some of it away for them.

1 large chicken breast

1 lb. carrots, diced

1 Idaho potato, diced

1 1/2 c. peas

1 small yellow onion

Directions:

In a stock pot, boil chicken breast whole and onions with just enough water to cover, until chicken is done and juices run clear. Remove about half of the onions and discard (I did just to be on the safe side-in case the taste was too strong for Carter). Add the rest of the veggies and continue to boil until all the veggies are soft.

Pull chicken breast out and dice. Puree first than add rest of ingredients slowly, adding water until desired consistency.

Yields: 36 oz.

3/4 pound lean cubed beef

1 small yellow onion

1 tsp garlic powder

1 cup green beans

3 Idaho potatoes, diced

1 lb. carrots, diced

Directions:

In stock pot, place beef, garlic powder and onion in water (just enough to cover). Bring to boil. Once meat is cooked through, strain out as much onion as you feel necessary (I took out about half). Add green beans, potatoes and carrots, continue boiling until veggies are soft.

Puree most of the meat first, then add rest of ingrediants, adding the water from the pot as you go until desired consistency.

Yield: 60 oz.

So tonight I made the First Chicken Casserole recipe (Karmel, Annabel. (1999). First Meals. New York: DK Publishing).

Here is a run down of how much I spent:

Carrots: 1.5 cups = $0.50 (3 medium carrots)

Leeks: 1 = $0.59

Chicken Breast: 5 oz. = $0.40 ( I had a bag frozen chicken breasts  in the freezer, I paid $4.99 for 4 lbs a few weeks ago)

Potatoes: 1 lb. = $0.40

Parsnips: 1 medium = $0.29

Total: $2.18

I didn’t quite follow the directions in the recipe. Instead I chopped and steamed the potatoes, carrots and parsnips together in my steamer and boiled the frozen chicken breast in water and covered until cooked through—about an hour. I boiled enough chicken for this recipe and Chicken with Sweet Potato and Apple. I then boiled the chicken and leeks together in a small pot for 15 minutes.  Then I pureed all the ingredients together.  I added 1.5 cups of water (I used the water that I boiled the chicken in) to the puree to thin it—I would say about a stage 2 consistency. Being paranoid also, I ran the puree through my food mill, just to make sure my son didn’t get any unexpected pieces of chicken in his mouth.

The puree was tasty, but a little bland.  I think I may add a second leek to the recipe next time just to give it a little bit more flavor.  But we will see how my little man likes it tomorrow.

The above ingredients made 31 ounces: which breaks down to $0.07/oz.  Depending on how much your baby eats at one sitting this recipe will make 10 to 15 meals (2-3 ounces each).

So for $2.18, I made 10 to 15 meals. Not too bad!