Whole Foods mushroom barley soup mix

Mushroom barley soup is really quite easy to make. Chopping the veggies, the onions, carrots, and mushrooms, is the bulk of the work. I recently discovered at my nearby Whole Foods store that they have done that “work” for you. You can now buy a plastic box of chopped onions, carrots and mushrooms along with a little container of barley. Now all you’ve got to do is follow the directions below and you’ve got soup!

Yes, you’ll pay a bit more for this convenience and yes, you’ll have more plastic waste than I’d like to see. But, if it gets you making fresh soup from scratch rather than just reading about fresh  soup from scratch, then go for it!

Chopping Carrots: Mindful Moving Meditation

If you don’t want to pay the extra buckos for veggies already chopped up, then do what I do. Get yourself a really nice sharp knife, and a good cutting board. Chop your veggies. To me, this is not drudgery as the processed food industry has made us believe. To me, chopping veggies is a mindful moving meditation: just me, the carrot and the knife. It only takes a few minutes When I am chopping carrots, I think about chopping carrots. I  don’t think about everything I need to do tomorrow, or about what irritating thing my kid did this morning. Just the carrots. That mindful energy ends up in my soup.

Mushroom Barley Soup

1 cup barley

1 teaspoon sesame oil

1 onion, in thin slices

2 carrots, diced

6 cups mushroom stock

5 or 6 shiitake mushrooms, thinly sliced

1 cup button mushrooms, thinly sliced

Soy sauce

Scallions, thinly sliced for garnish

Heat oil in a soup pot over low heat. Add onion and cook, stirring lightly, about 5 minutes.

Add stock and barley and bring to a boil over high heat.

Stir in the mushrooms and carrots, reduce heat and cook, covered, about 30 minutes, until the barley becomes soft and velvety.

Season lightly with soy sauce and simmer 5-10 minutes more.

Garnish with scallions