Barley Soup and Pretzel Rolls

I have decided. I'm going to try really hard to post once a week. Even if there's not much to say, except, say, that I just accidentally made some AWESOME barley soup.

I had some broth and chicken leftover in the freezer from a couple weeks back that I wanted to use. And then I finally decided to clean out my veggie drawer in the fridge. It wasn't pretty. Basically all that was salvageable were some carrots. They were a little rubbery, but I figured that's just a bit of dehydration, and soaking in some chicken broth should fix it. I was right. So in went the broth, chicken, carrots, and some frozen peas that the girl who stayed at my house this summer left in the freezer.

I knew Jilly left them, cause I really don't like the peas here. They are either hard or mush. I prefer my peas to be somewhere smack in the happy medium between hard and mush. So I figured the soup would be a good solution to the pea problem. I mean, I couldn't just throw them away! My mother was raised by the world's example of "waste not want not". I'm serious. Look up that phrase in the dictionary and you'll see a picture of my grandma, Mrs. Nellie House. If word got out that I threw out perfectly good frozen peas just because I didn't like them, Grandma Nell would be disappointed (which is, of course, far worse than "angry") and my poor mother might roll over in her grave, out of residual familial guilt. And that would be particularly amazing since she was cremated and doesn't have a grave.

So I put the peas in the soup. But the best part of the soup? Barley. I recently discovered barley in my personal quest to introduce more whole grains into my diet. You long-term-readers may remember my disastrous first experience with the expansion powers of barley. Happily, I've come a long way since then. I now know, for example, that a cup of dry barley is enough for a pot of soup; adding the entire bag of barley is not advisable.

Right now I'm eating this soup while I write to you. The carrots (which have recovered nicely from their extended visit to my vegetable drawer) add just a hint of sweetness. The peas are the ideal texture. The barely adds depth but has not taken the soup hostage. Yay! And in case the yummy accidental soup wasn't enough, I have a fresh, delicious pretzel roll, bought mere minutes ago at the swanky bakery, CorFu, instead of my standard bakery, Arenas.

I love it when a non-plan comes together.