Chicken Posole

Chicken Posole

Ok, I had to steal the picture from Family Circle because I never think to get pictures until the recipe is proven and GONE! This one was a HUGE hit! I made a big crockpot full and fed it to my visiting family and then our friends for our Family Home Evening dinner group and everyone asked for seconds and the recipe! I got the initial idea from Family Circle, but tweaked it quite a bit because I either didn't have the ingredient it called for or it just didn't sound good to me so here goes! Enjoy!

2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped (or 1 TBS garlic salt)

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cooked and cubed

3 cups barley (I washed and soaked mine over night to make sure my soup was ready after church the next day because we have 8:30a church and everyone would be starved by noon so I started it before we left)

1 TBS onion salt or 1/2 pkg onion soup mix

1 tsp dried oregano

2 chicken bouillon cubes

4-5 cups water (depends on how thick you want your soup or how far you need it to go!)

1 can Ro-Tel with jalapenos

1 large can petite cut tomatoes

1-2 TBS lime juice

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

Put all ingredients on a large slow cooker/crockpot and cover. Cook on HIGH for 3 hours or LOW for 5 hours. If you soak your barley and cook your chicken before hand it may only be 2 hours or until the flavors are blended, the barley soft and the soup warm.

Bean and Barley Soup

We have 25 pounds of barley in our food storage that we try to rotate into our meals. We like to grind it up and use it as flour in some of our baking but I also wanted to find a really good soup to make with it. I combined a few recipes I found while searching around online and came up with this soup. It is so good! The boys had seconds and Coen had thirds and was licking his bowl clean...literally! It has a secret ingredient...curry! Just enough to add a yummy flavor without it actually tasting like a curry dish. The only difference I would make would be one less beef bouillon cube. It seemed just a little too salty to me. But I'll put the recipe down as I made it and you can see what you think. Of course you could easily make this vegetarian by using vegetable broth instead of the beef. I give this recipe two thumbs up!


Bean and Barley Soup

2 Tbsp. olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
3 carrots, sliced very thin
1 celery stalk, chopped
4 oz. (half of an 8 oz. container) mushrooms, chopped-I used baby bella mushrooms
8 cups water
4 beef bouillon cubes
2/3 cup uncooked pearled barley
1 (14.5 oz.) can diced tomatoes
1 can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
1 tsp. curry powder
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 cup (about 3 big leaves) kale, chopped very fine--could use chopped cabbage or spinach if you don't have kale but kale is so good and so good for you!

In a large soup pot, saute onion, garlic, carrots, mushrooms, and celery in olive oil. Add all other ingredients except for kale. Mix and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 45 min. or until barley is soft. Stir occasionally. Add kale during the last 15 minutes of cooking time. If too thick, add more water. Season with salt and pepper to taste.