Mushroom Barley Soup (Slow Cooker)

Chef Joey Z.'s Note:

One beef I have with crock pot recipes is sometimes the size of the crock pot isn't included with the recipe. I have an 7 qt. Kitchen Aide Crock Pot, so most recipes will fit into it. With this recipe, I noticed I only filled the crock with these ingredients to the 4 quart line. I got this recipe out of the Simple Vegan Slow Cooker Cookbook. I noticed that the finished soup needed salt, but I don't add salt to my soups. I leave that up to the discretion of the person eating the soup. I used herbs from my garden that I grew and dried last fall. I used white button mushrooms in this soup. I sprinkled a little Romano cheese on top of my bowl of soup, which isn't vegan, but it surely tasted good and added a little extra flavour. I doubled the recipe because we love our soup!

• Total Time: 6 hrs 15 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 6 hrs

Ingredients:

Serves: 1

Yield: 6.0 cups

• 4 cups vegetable stock
• 4 cups sliced mushrooms (fresh)
• 1/2 cup pearl barley
• 3 tablespoons dairy-free margarine
• 1 tablespoon fresh dill
• 2 teaspoons dried basil
• 2 teaspoons dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon dried tarragon

Directions:

1. Add the soup stock to your slow cooker and turn it on. If you're cooking this on low, 6 to 8 hours is perfect.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients and set the crock and let it cook.
3. I always check the soup about 1/2 way through cooking as I've found at times the soups is done sooner then the time stated.
4. Bon Appetit.

Reviews

[JGB18]

Overall, not a big hit for the family. The younger kids hated it and the older kids and adults rated it only slightly better. I'm the leaset finicky in the family, and thought it was an OK low fat dish. My wife did not like the spice combination. Nonetheless, the recipe worked as advertised and the preparation was very easy.

[yogiclarebear]

Delicious and SO easy! I used 10 oz mushrooms, and 1/3 cup of barley. I also used only 1 tablespoon of reduced-fat margarine, to cut out some fat and cals. This was so wonderful with tuna melts for supper. DH added parmesan cheese.