Sequestration Meal #315

 

A lot of my meals these days start with rummaging around in my cabinets, getting a rough idea of what I could do with them, and then semi-winging it after a round of Google. This bean and barley stew started out that way. I most closely followed this recipe at the Spruce Eats website, with some slight modifications to scale it down. I had thought about putting zucchini in this and I regretted not doing that, because zucchini would be amazing in it, probably. But it's fine as it is, even if the celery no longer shows up as a green vegetable.

It got thicker than I'd planned so I called it stew instead of soup and that was just fine. The flavors were absolutely delicious; it is just the appearance that could probably use help.

I know that as my pantry diminishes I'll have the urge to replace things, but I'm trying to avoid giving in to that urge. I am fine. I have enough food. There are stores nearby I can go inside and they are generally as well stocked as they were before the slow apocalypse came. A way of avoiding that urge is trying to have adventures in the pantry. Vegetable soup with barley isn't that much of an adventure, but I've never made it myself so it counts for me. One more meal down; one more adventure I had alone, and shared with you to make it less isolating.

Those of you who pay attention to such things will note I did not mark this as gluten free. Barley contains gluten, even though it is not wheat. If you're avoiding barley, you'll need to try something else, like quinoa or rice, in your soup. Happy cooking!