Hearty Barley Stew
Wait, first off, I have an important announcement…
I finally purchased a DSLR camera!
After much deliberation, I went with the Canon Rebel T2i. (Uh, if anyone wants to help me figure out how it works? That’d be cool.) So I’ll be spending lots of hours in the future trying to figure out how it works 🙂
Anyways, there was a winter storm warning here in Richmond, and I didn’t need to see snow flakes to decide it was the perfect excuse to spend the day in the kitchen.
I whipped up a huge pot of what was initially going to be a vegetable soup, but it turned into more like an italian stew. This recipe had a mind of its own. Thankfully, it turned out well.
Hearty Barley Stew
Makes about 6 cups- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 medium onion
- 1 cup chopped carrots
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 can diced tomatoes
- 4 cups vegetable stock
- 1/2 cup marinara sauce (or just more diced tomatoes)
- 1 cup uncooked, pearled barley
- 1 tbsp italian seasoning
- black pepper to taste
- 1 cup fresh spinach
Start by sauteing the carrots and onion in the olive oil, over medium heat until soft. Add cumin and stir. Pour in your diced tomatoes, vegetable stock, marinara sauce and barley. Turn to high, and bring to a boil. Stir in the rest of the seasonings, and continue to cook on medium heat for 15-20 minutes, or until the barley is cooked. Just before serving, stir in the spinach so it’s just barely wilted.
I didn’t do the exact “analysis” on this, but each serving is about 200 calories, and that’s for a pretty big serving. (Over a cup.) The barley is super filling, and you’re getting lots of veggie-packed goodness in each serving!
Forgive the photography… I don’t know my settings on my camera yet 😉
Congratulations on your new camera!!! I love my DSLR. I don’t really have many tips for a Canon, as I use a Nikon D90, but I can definitely say I absolutely love shooting in RAW and in the Aperture mode (A on my camera settings dial). You can really control all of your settings that way!
That stew looks fantastic! And lucky you with a new camera, have fun learning all about it!
Woo congrats on the camera! I would love one of those.. someday 🙂
And great recipe too! Perfect for cold weather of course
Congrats on the camera! I really don’t know much about how to use mine…it just seems to require more time than I have. My “blog dad” (so named because he is married to my ‘blogger mama’) taught me some basics, but it’s hard to balance excellent photography AND new recipes AND writing AND that little thing called life. 🙂
In other news, I love the idea of adding marinara to the soup/stew. I don’t know why this idea never struck me before…especially after the time I ordered a bowl of sauce at an Italian restaurant and then ate it with a spoon.
I was eating leftovers of the stew tonight and I added extra marinara sauce (because it dried out a little in the fridge) and my boyfriend was like, did you just add pasta sauce to your soup? And I was like… maybe… 😉
Congrats on the new camera!! I have a canon and I still need to teach myself how to use the settings!!
That stew looks so delicious and so healthy!
I totally want a DSLR – I’ve decided (it’s on my 30 before 30 list I’m posting tomorrow) that I will take a photography class from the community ed program at the local university this summer and buy one, so I get some help!
Congrats on the camera! And that’s so fun about the couple getting engaged- love that.
congrats on the new purchase, SO excitinggggggggg!! hope you had a fun snow day yesterday 🙂 (ps we missed you at blowtoad on friday for britt’s bday!!)
I know! I’m sad I missed it! (I was having a girls night at the VMFA, which, by the way, has half price bottles of wine on Friday nights… just saying)
I hope we can catch up soon!
Mmm.. that sounds great!
I have a DSLR, but don’t have any good tips. I’m terrible at it, and take most pics with my iphone. I need to work on it!
jealous of your camera! congrats on your new baby though 🙂
and I am a total soup fan! I love throwing random things into the pot and watching it turn into a masterpiece