Yummy Barley

I know, Barley isn’t one of those grains that most of us eat on a regular basis but why not?  I made some yesterday that is really good and can be used as a side dish when I’m scrambling to make dinner this week.

According to the box, for a cup of pearled barley you will need 2 cups of water.  I actually added a little more while it was cooking as I wanted to simmer mine a little longer to make it softer.  Bring the water to a boil and add your barley.  When it returns to a boil, reduce the heat so that it simmers, cover and cook about 40 minutes or until the water is absorbed.  That’s the basic recipe.

When I added the barley, I also added some diced green onion, celery and carrot.  You can replace the water with chicken stock or do as I did and add some chicken base to the mix.  If you do that, you really don’t need to add any salt.

The result is a very tasty pot of barley that your family should love.  If you serve it more than once and have leftovers, you can freeze them to add to soup the next time you make it.  What’s that?  You don’t have an easy recipe for soup?  I guess I will have to add that next.  :0)

By the way, I buy little jars of beef,vegetable, turkey and/or chicken base in my grocery store.  They are similar to bouillon but taste better and are easier to use.  (I think one brand is called ‘Better Than Bouillon’.)  In my store they are on a shelf near the soup.  I keep these in my refrigerator for soup starters, to flavor grains or even make gravy.  It’s one of those things that make life a little easier.

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Tags: barley, Cook, recipe, side dish, stock