Vegetable Soup with Barley, Peas and Lentils. For Cara.

Around here we have a fun little grocery store called Aldi. I know some people love it and some people hate it. I like it. I shop there often.

So does Cara. I know this because even though she and I live a good twenty minutes away from each other, I have been at Aldi at exactly the same time as Cara at least three times. I see Nicole there regularly, too.

But anyway, a couple of weeks ago, Cara, Nicole and I dropped our little ones off at their play date thingy. Then we all got in our cars and drove away. About 12 minutes later, Nicole, who was leading the way, turned off toward Target. I continued toward Aldi. Cara was still behind me.

Fascinating, story, no? Anyway, as we shopped, Cara saw me stop to look at these cute little bags of quick-cooking grains. She left her cart and came over. She said, "I wanted to buy those, just because they are so cute, but what would you do with them?"

I answered by saying something like, "oh, we actually eat stuff like this." Then I gave her a couple of ideas and we parted ways to continue our shopping.

When I saw her at a friend's house a few days later, she asked, "So what did you end up making with that little bag?" At that point, I hadn't done anything with them, but I told her I'd let her know when I did. We all kinda talked for a minute about dinner ruts and the misery of feeding kids who don't actually eat food. You know the story.

But a few days later, I actually cooked the adorable baggie of quick-cooking goodness. This is what I did. Now, I realize I'm posting about soup on the warmest day of the year so far. Sue me. I'm not a food blogger. I'm just sharing an idea with a friend. Via a blog post. About food. There won't be mouth-watering, glowing, shimmering photos with blurry parsley in the background. Sorry.

I chopped up an onion, a couple of carrots and a couple of stalks of celery. A little salt and pepper. I sauteed these for a few minutes in my soup pot. Then I threw in a few red potatoes that I had cut into small-ish bite-sized chunks. I also added about 4 cups of broth. And a wee bit more salt. I brought the mess up to a boil. Then I lowered the heat, covered it and let it simmer in there for about 10-15 minutes.

At that point, the potatoes were starting to get soft. I added a generous sprinkling of smoked paprika and a glug or two of Worcestershire sauce. I threw in some leftover steamed cauliflower I had in the fridge, a can of chickpeas (drained and rinsed), and the little package of barley, peas and lentils I had purchased. A little more salt. I also added about 3 cups of water. Again I brought the pot to a boil then lowered the heat and covered it, leaving it to simmer for about 10 minutes.

At the end of the 10 minutes, the barley was soft, the potatoes were done and the soup had thickened a bit. You could eat this right then. But I was looking for those split peas and lentils to give up and go creamy. Which they did after about another 5-7 minutes.

Done. We ate it with some bread (of course). I figured it had enough vegetables in it and skipped the salad. I'll list the whole thing below in a recipe format, along with a variation or two.

Vegetable Soup with Barley, Peas, and Lentils. For Cara.

1 onion, finely chopped
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
4-6 smallish red potatoes, cut into bite-sized pieces
4 cups flavorful broth of your choice
1 teaspoon-ish of smoked paprika
2 good glugs of Worcestershire sauce
2 cups cauliflower (or other vegetables: green beans, zucchini, broccoli, greens, whatever you have on hand)
1 can chickpeas/garbanzo beans or another bean of your choice, rinsed and drained
1 package quick-cooking barley, lentils, and split peas (about 9 oz)
salt and pepper along the way

1. Saute the onion, carrots, and celery until soft.
2. Add the potatoes and broth. If your cauliflower isn't already steamed and waiting in the fridge, throw it in now as well. Bring to a boil. Then lower the heat and simmer, covered for 10-15 minutes.
3. Add the rest of the ingredients. Bring to a boil again, then lower to a simmer for another 10 minutes. Check for desired doneness in vegetables and grains, cooking 5-10 minutes longer at a low simmer as needed.
4. Check the salt. Don't be afraid to salt this up.
5. Serve with bread.

For non-Vegans
Since most of you aren't vegans, here's what I would do to make this soup appeal to the carnivore in your life. Before you saute the first veggies, cook up a few slices of bacon in the bottom of your pot. When they are crisp, remove them to drain on paper towels, leaving about a tablespoon or so of bacon fat in the bottom. Saute your vegetables in that. When the soup is done, top it with the crumbled crispy bacon. Just sayin'.

What Jeremy did with the leftovers
He did what he always does. He stirred greens into the cold soup and heated it up and ate it. He does this most with spinach, kale, and arugula. He said the arugula was great in this next day.

As you can probably tell, this makes a pretty big pot of soup. You can scale it down if you want.

This is cheap and hearty stuff. Sometimes I do fancy, but not this one. Oh, you all want to know if my kids ate it. And they did. Well, some of them. Edmund and Charles especially. Unfortunately, this means nothing about whether any of your children will eat it. No telling.

And yes, you could do this in a slow cooker.

Stay tuned. I still have another cute little bag of grains I need to cook. For Cara.