Southwest Chicken and Barley Soup

I find it helpful to put a few meals on the menu that have ingredients that I don’t need to cook right away. I completely agree that it’s valuable and important to eat fresh food as often as possible. Unfortunately that doesn’t work for our weekly routines so I need to have meals on hand that I can pull together without worrying about fresh ingredients.

I think I just described pantry meals…again. Forgive me.

I have romantic little daydreams of living in a cute little European town and visiting the market each day to gather the ingredients I would need to each evening’s meal. I also drive a little baby blue 50s car and wear flow-y dresses. I also speak French perfectly(apparently these daydreams happen in Belgium or France). There is nothing romantic about jumping in the Golf with my highlighted shopping list and going to Target with husband and little one and buying two weeks’ worth of groceries. On the other hand, I really do enjoy shopping as a family. Husband and I have great talks while shopping and little one gets to flirt with every little old lady he sees. Nope, not romantic, but it is good quality time.

This recipe fits nicely into our two-week shopping trips and could easily be made the night before a shopping trip when there is nothing fresh left in the fridge. I did buy a fancy herb keeper at Crate and Barrel which has helped keep my cilantro nice and fresh. It fits beautifully in the fridge door – check it out if you don’t have an herb garden and love fresh herbs. I was thrilled to have another recipe to use barley in. Barley is by far my favorite grain. Yes, I have a favorite grain.

The original recipe calls for two cups of frozen corn. I left the corn out. If you really like corn, please add it! I found the soup pretty chunky without the corn so if you do add it you may need a little extra chicken broth. I used black beans but kidney or pinto beans would work just as well. The chicken I used had been cooked and frozen beforehand so I was able to just pull it out of the freezer and that saved me a step. Pureed or crush tomatoes would work well in place of the tomato sauce depending on the texture you want. I was able to freeze half the recipe and still had a good amount for dinner and two lunches.

Now…off to find a recipe that fits beautifully into my daydream. Thankfully fresh spring and summer produce is upon us!

Enjoy!

1 onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 T. oil
3 cups water
15 oz. black beans, rinsed and drained
15 oz. tomato sauce
15 oz. diced tomatoes, undrained
15 oz. chicken broth
½ cup pearl barley, uncooked
4 oz. chopped green chilies
1 T. chili powder
½ tsp. cumin
3 cups chicken, cooked and shredded
¼ cup cilantro, chopped
3 T. lime juice

In a large soup pot sauté onion and garlic in oil until tender. Add the remaining ingredients, except for the cilantro and lime juice. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to a simmer and cook covered for about 40 minutes.

Stir in cilantro and lime just before serving.

To serve, ladle into bowls and top with sour cream and shredded cheese.

Adapted from www.perrysplate.com/2012/02/southwest-chicken-and-barley-soup.html