There is something so satisfying about making a pot of soup. It’s simple to make, tastes even better the second day and is perfect to pack up for a work lunch. Enjoy the earthy flavor of mushrooms and healthy high fiber pearl barley in this filling soup. Since it’s low calorie you have plenty of room to enjoy a sandwich or salad along with a steamy hot bowl of soup.
Even though this is a meatless meal it still packs a whopping 10 grams of protein per serving. The mushrooms and barley give it plenty of chew making it quite satisfying and filling.
Mushroom Barley Soup
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2 cups beef broth 99% fat free
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8 cups chicken broth 99% fat free
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2 large carrots, peeled, sliced
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2 stalks celery, sliced
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10 ounces white mushrooms, sliced
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8 ounces cremini mushrooms, sliced
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1/8 cup dried porcini mushrooms, chopped
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2 tablespoons sherry or dry vermouth
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1 teaspoon salt – optional
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1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
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1/4 teaspoon fennel seed
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3/4 cup pearl barley
Place all ingredients in a slow cooker. Stir to mix. Cover and cook on high for 5 hours or low for 8 hours.
Yield: 6 servings
Nutritional Information
Per serving; 173 calories, 29g carbs, 10g protein, 7g fiber, omg chol, 0g fat WWPP 4
Recipe adapted from one found on Cooking Light message board – original source not known.
Nutmeg Notes
I had a food product review complete with half a dozen photos all written up to go along with this post and the WordPress goblins ate it! About an hours worth of work went “poof” into thin air! I hate it when stuff like that happens. I don’t have time to redo it now so it will have to wait for another day. I’m trying to remain calm but this is really frustrating. WordPress gives me so much trouble. If I was a kid I would have a temper tantrum about now. Sigh.
I’ve been trying to get caught up on my back log of recipes and food reviews this week. That’s why there have been so many more posts than usual. Theres more food in the pantry waiting to be used in recipes and reviewed. It takes us so much longer to use up leftovers when I do cook that we aren’t at a point of needing more food. A look in my freezer revealed plenty of items already prepared that also need to be consumed. I’m not very good at shopping and cooking for two! It’s a learning curve.
Tami
Add Your Thoughts
Do you like barley?
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Renee@Mykitchenadventures says:
September 13, 2012 at 11:42 am (UTC -7)
Tami, I like mushrooms and I like barley and this time of year…I really like soup! What a wonderful recipe! I have to admit, I’ve made this type of soup before, but always put beef in it. It would be nice to try it without sometime!
I hear more ppl with this problem with wordpress. I have often thought about switching from blogger to wordpress ( because it seems on wordpress you can customize so much easier and do so much more with your layout) but blogger continues to serve it’s purpose without causing me much grief. Maybe your info will show up eventually.
Jody - Fit at 54 says:
September 13, 2012 at 12:48 pm (UTC -7)
That looks delishTami!!!!!
SO SORRY about WP & losing all that info. I makes me feel less bad about all the crap with GoDaddy BUT still wishing all your hard work was not gobbled up – BAD!!!!!
Karen@WaistingTime says:
September 13, 2012 at 1:30 pm (UTC -7)
My husband and I were just wondering something about mushrooms recently and I bet you’d be a good person to ask! Yes, it was a recipe with barley too:) And it calls for cremini mushrooms and porcini (dried), both are kinds I have to make a trip to a specialty store to get. We wondered if we’d notice the difference in taste or texture if we went with something more easily available, like button or baby bellas. Any thoughts?
Tami says:
September 13, 2012 at 2:27 pm (UTC -7)
I am not an expert when it comes to mushrooms Karen – but I do believe that baby bellas and cremini are just different names for the same mushroom. Porcini mushrooms are meaty like a large portabella so a large portabella should be a good swap for porcini in a recipe. Button or white mushrooms are younger mushrooms and don’t have as much of an intense earthy flavor as more mature mushrooms like bellas, creminis or porcini mushrooms. So if the star of the recipe is mushrooms I would opt for baby bellas, creminis or protabellas to get that rich earthy flavor and they retain their shape after cooking better than the button or white mushrooms. Button or white mushrooms tend to lose their shape and texture when cooked for a long period of time.
I find that the local grocery stores that have a lot of ethnic (Ashian & Hispanic) patrons seem to carry a wider variety of produce like mushrooms, peppers, root vegetables and the more odd fresh herbs. Of course stores like Whole Foods or grocery stores that carry more gourmet food lines usually have a nice assortment as well. Even our Farmer’s Mkt now has a booth of all mushrooms!
Hope that helps. It’s great to know you are still around! I miss you and your blog.
Di says:
September 13, 2012 at 3:11 pm (UTC -7)
I’ve been looking for a soup recipe like this had this at a vegan restaurant few weeks ago and wanted to recreate it, and I will try it but I will also have to adapt it as this recipe IS NOT a meatless meal! Sure it has no chunks of meat in it but it’s not vegetarian/meatless. It has chicken broth and beef broth. Vegetarians eat neither. Just saying
I assume I can substitute veg broth for the meat broth?
Tami says:
September 13, 2012 at 4:01 pm (UTC -7)
Hi Di! Just to be clear I never said it was “vegetarian” – I said it was “meatless” – not meat free -there in lies the difference.
I have friends who are vegetarian so I’m quite aware that this soup doesn’t qualify as such. Feel free to substitute vegetable broth and make it vegetarian and please come back and let me know how it turned out.
Lori says:
September 13, 2012 at 6:24 pm (UTC -7)
I like barley, but I hardly ever eat it. I would rather have rice (which I love!). No mushrooms for me, though
The Candid RD (Gina) says:
September 14, 2012 at 3:57 am (UTC -7)
Well I’m sorry to hear the WordPress goblins are giving you trouble. But, I’ll be honest, I’m glad to hear that BlogSpot isn’t always the worst! I have been debating the switch, but I think I’m sticking with BlogSpot because it hasn’t given me any troubles in a while….know on wood!
Thanks for the wonderful recipe. I rarely eat barley, but when I do it’s typically in yummy SOUP!
Biz says:
September 14, 2012 at 8:00 am (UTC -7)
I forgot to add – do you use LiveWriter to write your posts? I absolutely love it – I can do a blog post in 20 minutes vs. the 40 minutes through wordpress – and its free! You can save draft posts and everything.
Tami says:
September 14, 2012 at 9:34 am (UTC -7)
I have heard of Live Writer Biz but I haven’t checked into it. I guess I should. Wow a 20 minute post would be awesome! I am off to check it out. Thanks.