Chicken Barley Soup from Everyday Food, October 2011

Ingredients
1 TBS extra-virgin olive oil
4 carrots, diced small
4 celery stalks, diced small
1 medium yellow onion, diced small
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
Coarse salt and ground pepper
6 cups low-sodium chicken broth
5 sprigs thyme (I used dried)
1 cup quick-cooking barley (I used regular barley)
5 oz. baby spinach (5 cups) (I used frozen and had to adjust the directions accordingly)

Directions
1. In a large Dutch oven or other heavy pot, heat oil over medium-high. Add carrots, celery, and onion. Cook until just tender, about 8 minutes. Add chicken, season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring, until chicken is opaque at edges, about 2 minutes.
2. Add broth and thyme and bring to a boil. Stir in barley. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer until barley is tender and chicken is cooked through, 10 to 12 minutes.
3. Add spinach and cook until wilted, 1 minute. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve.

The broth needed a little more body I thought. My brother made a good observation. Next time it definitely needs garlic, and he had an interesting suggestion: cumin. (I was also wondering about throwing in some beans of some sort and/or some small pasta). Very hearty.

Nutrition Facts

Chicken Barley Stew (Slow Cooker) from Betty Crocker Whole Grains: Easy Everyday Recipes

Ingredients
3 large carrots, sliced (2 cups)
2 medium stalks celery, sliced (1 cup)
1 large onion, chopped (1 cup)
2 chicken breast (about 1 1/4 lbs)
5 cups water
3/4 c barley
2 tsp chicken bouillon granules
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 can diced tomatoes, undrained
2 TBS chopped fresh parsley
1 tsp dried thyme leaves

Directions
1. In 4-5 quart slow cooker, place carrots, celery and onion. Place chicken breasts on vegetables. Add remaining ingredients except parsley and thyme.
2. Cover, cook on Low heat setting 8-9 hours.
3. Remove chicken from cutter; place on cutting board. Remove meat from bones and chop into 1/2 to 1 inch pieces; discard bones.
4. Stir chicken, parsley and thyme into stew. Increase heat setting to High. Cover; cook 10-15 minutes longer or until chicken is thoroughly heated.

It was a bit bland. But, typing out the recipe I realize that I forgot the tomatoes. Also, I had to adjust the cooking time for this high altitude.

Lentil and Bean Soup

From Prevention February 2010

Ingredients1 onion, chopped
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 c dried lentils
5 c water
1 can (8 oz.) tomato sauce
3 carrots, chopped
3 ribs celery, chopped
1 can (15.5 oz) great Northern or black beans, rinsed and drained
3.5 oz smoked Gouda, shredded
2 Tbsp fresh cilantro, parsley, and/or scallion tops, chopped or 1 1/2 tsp freeze dried chives
1/4 c sour cream (optional) you know I used plain yogurt

DirectionsTo add meat, brown a lb with the onion, and use 1 c lentils and 4 cups water.
1) saute onion in oil in Dutch oven over medium-high heat until golden, about 5 minutes. Stir in chili powder and salt.
2) Add lentils and water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and simmer 5 minutes. Add tomato sauce, carrots and celery. Simmer 10 minutes. Add beans and cook until vegetables are tender, about 5 minutes.
3) Stir in cheese and herbs. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve topped with sour cream.

(4 servings)
Nutrition not including meat: 480 calories, 12 g fat, 5 g sat fat, 869 g sodium, 68 g carb, 21 g fiber, 30 g pro.

Southwestern Quinoa Stew with Squash, Black Beans and Corn

Here's the mystery ingredient in this: hopefully I can find it for the next time: Chipotles in adobo sauce
Chipotle chiles (smoked jalapeno chiles) are canned in a red sauce that typically contains tomato puree, paprika, salt, onions, oil, vinegar, garlic, bay leaves and oregano. Used for making sauces, chipotle mayonnaise, rubs as well as other recipes.

1 TBS olive oil

2 tsp minced dried onion (I think it would have turned out just as nice or better with the fresh onion and garlic)

1/2 tsp dried oregano

1/4 tsp granulated garlic

1 quart low-sodium chicken broth + 2 c water

3/4 - 1 c quinoa

1 tsp chipotle in adobo mashed (I had no idea where to find this)

1 package (10 ounces) frozen cooked winter squash

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 c frozen corn

1/2 c diced fire roasted red pepper (I used a half a bag frozen pepper strips)

1/4 c chopped fresh cilantro

Avocado slices for garnish

In soup pan, heat oil over med-high heat. Stir in the onion, oregano and garlic and cook for 10 seconds.

Add the broth and the water. Bring to a boil over high heat. Add the quinoa and boil uncovered over Medium high heat for 10 minutes.

Stir in the chipotle in adobo and add the block of squash and stir it into the stew, 3-4 minutes.

Stir in the beans. Reduce the heat to medium. Continue cooking until there was no solid white dot of starch at the center of the quinoa, 1-3 minutes longer. Stir in the corn, roasted red pepper, and cilantro. Cook uncovered, just until the corn is defrosted, another minute or so. Serve.

 

I thought this was a delicious way to eat quinoa. I think it needed more vegetables and some chicken chunks and then it could be a complete meal.

Barley and Lentil Stew (very chewy)

I included these informational articles on Kale because it was one of those never used ingredients for me. SAR knows I tried to use the Kale once before, but ended up just letting it rot in the fridge. Well this time I used it. I don't know if this recipe was a winner- it was a bit bland to me. But I also didn't follow it exactly (I didn't have a barley leaf or miso on hand).

3/4 c barley
3/4 c lentils
6 c water (I had to add quite a bit more as I cooked)
1 large bay leaf
3 c cubed sweet potatoes (I used regular potatoes because I can't stand sweet potatoes. Big floury potatoes have gotten a bad rap lately so I used smaller, baby potatoes which supposedly have a lower Glycemic Index than a regular potato).
3 c chopped kale
1 head of garlic, peeled and minced (I didn't dare actually add a whole head).
1/2 tsp dried rosemary
2 TBS dark miso
1/4 c water
3 TBS sesame seeds (omitted)

In a large pot boil the water with the lentils and barley. Reduce heat and simmer for 40 minutes. Add everything else, simmer for another 15 minutes, adding water as necessary. Remove from heat. Add miso to 1/4 c water, then add to stew. Cover and let set for several minutes.
Toast sesame seeds in a small, hot dry skillet, stirring until golden, and add.

Since I didn't have miso I used chicken broth and added some cubed chicken. I wasn't sure if I liked how sticky the water boiling the lentils and barley got. I wanted the lentils to retain more of their texture. Maybe I would make sure the lentils outnumbered the barley.

So, the Kale experiment. When they call it peppery, they aren't kidding. Without a bit of pepper in the stew, it tasted like I had added pepper. I removed the middle stem from the kale, but wished either/or I had cut the Kale up smaller or cooked it longer. It really doesn't wilt like spinach. I will continue the experiment.