Barley Mushroom Soup & Stuffed Crust Blueberry Pie

When Mom and I were at our hair dresser the other day, Karen showed us a recipe in the recent Better Homes & Gardens magazine. It was an advertisement for Lucky Leaf pie filling and the recipe is Blue Ribbon Stuffed Crust Blueberry Pie. The stuffed comes from a cream cheese, lime zest & juice, sugar, and almond extract mixture between 2 pie crusts. The blueberry pie filling is put on top of the second pie crust and dollops of cream cheese mixture is spooned on it. Sounds pretty yummy to us.

Then, when I was looking for my green beans almondine recipe (to make for Thanksgiving) I came across a Classic Barley Mushroom Soup recipe I've been wanting to make for awhile. It came from a book titled Vegetarian Classics. Below is the recipe.

Classic Barley Mushroom Soup
Serves 4 as a main course

3 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium onions, finely diced
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 pound mushrooms, coarsely chopped into small pieces
10 cups vegetable stock
1 celery rib, very thinly sliced
2 carrots, finely chopped
1/2 cup barley, rinsed in a strainer
2 tablespoons tamari soy sauce
1 teaspoon fresh thyme, or 1/2 teaspoon dried
1/2 teaspoon salt
generous seasoning freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley

1- Heat the oil in a large stockpot over medium heat. Stir in the onions and garlic, and cook until tender and golden, about 10 minutes. Add the mushrooms and saute, stirring often, until they release their juices and begin to brown, about 10 minutes.

2- Stir in all the remaining ingredients except the parsley and bring to a boil. Cover the pot, lower the heat to a lively simmer, and cook 45-60 minutes, or until the barley is very tender. Stir in the parsley just before serving.

Tips:
--Got some Madeira on hand? A splash adds depth and richness to this soup.
--You can use all common mushrooms or 8 ounces common mushrooms and 8 ounces mixed exotic mushrooms.
--This soup can be made up to 2 days in advance.

Sounds delicious. I'll let you know how it all turns out.