Mushroom and Barley Soup (Crock Pot)

"We really enjoyed this simple soup. Recipe source: Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker."
 
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photo by januarybride photo by januarybride
photo by januarybride
photo by Annacia photo by Annacia
Ready In:
6hrs 21mins
Ingredients:
12
Serves:
4-6

ingredients

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directions

  • Place the dried mushrooms in a heatproof measuring cup and cover with hot water. Let sit until softened. Drain, reserving 1/2 cup of the liquid. Slice mushrooms. Set aside.
  • In a small skillet heat oil over medium heat. Add onion, carrot and celery and cook until softened (5 minutes).
  • Transfer vegetables to crock pot and add barley, both kinds of mushrooms, broth, reserved mushroom soaking liquid, thyme and salt and pepper. Cover and cook on low for 6 hours.
  • Serve garnished with chives.

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Reviews

  1. Made exactly as written and am sorry to say I found this exceedingly bland. It is very filling, something different, and cheap to make, but I couldn't make it again. I was going to give it 2 stars but Fiance actually said it was OK. I found I needed a lot of salt and wished for some lemon! Lemon and thyme always compliment each other. If I were to do it again I think I'd use all fresh mushrooms. Wasn't crazy about the dried shitaki in it.
     
  2. I really liked this. I did add a little more seasoning than called for, including fresh garlic. Also 1 tsp of dried whole thyme, which seemed like plenty. Even though I was a little short on the amount of mushrooms, it still worked out really well. Don't be tempted to skip on the amount of liquid because it gets really really thick and creamy. I think the key to this is long and slow - I had it on high originally, thinking we would have it for lunch, but it wasn't looking so good so I turned it down and left it alone for the afternoon. It's really like a stew if you leave it that long, which I really liked. My mushroom hating children even liked this, which is a shocker! I'm sure I'll be making this again with different types of dried mushrooms (today I used shitake, not my favourite). Great way to use a crock pot!
     
  3. The key to blandness is.......miso. Add maybe a couple of tbsps it after cooking and don't boil, as this kills the probiotics. Superb tweak, if I do say so myself.
     
  4. This is a pretty good recipe. Easy and quick to put together. I used fresh thyme in place of the dried. I used dried shiitake, fresh shiitake, and portabella. My bf didn't care for the portabella very much. Nice warm stew on a cooler day. Thanks for posting.
     
  5. Nice, hearty stew that doesn't taste like the crock pot LOL!!! I did add some Spike seasoning and a little Garlic Garlic seasoning. I used a mix of dried wild mushrooms from Trader Joe's and it was perfect! I also used organic mushroom broth instead of the veggie broth. UPDATE: I froze some of this soup. . .just thawed it out and while I had to throw in some extra water to thin it out a bit, it was still very tasty and had no signs of having been frozen. Keeper! Made for Veg*n Tag Jan 2010.
     
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Tweaks

  1. When I want a mushroom & barley soup... this recipe will be the one I use. I didn't use a slow cooker but simmered the soup on the stove top for a little over an hour. The store didn't carry dried mushrooms (or I couldn't find them) and so I subbed an 8oz container of baby bellas for the dried mushrooms. That gave me a pound of mushrooms in the soup... which turned out to be perfect, imho! I will definitely be making this again... as well as recommending to to my DD. Excellent soup!
     
  2. This was the very best recipe I have ever made in my crock pot. My hubby loved it and said that it was as satisfying as any soup that contained meat. I only made one change and that was to use baby portabellas in place of the dried ones. This pretty much doubled the mushrooms in the recipe I guess, but it came out really good.
     

RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

<p>I love cooking and trying different foods, but my favorite cookbooks are now Weight Watchers or low fat/low cal cookbooks as I tend to try and make low fat/low cal recipes. I lost over 90 pounds on Weight Watchers and have maintained for over a year now -- so my cooking/eating habits have changed drastically following my weight loss and to keep it off!</p>
 
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