Soup time of the year

It is that great time of the year when I begin to make a soup a week.  Over the last couple of weeks I made a tomato white bean - one of my favorites, a potato cheese soup, and a quickie minestrone one.  Tonight I'm making a version of two-mushroom barley soup.

Begin with a yellow onion, carrot, and celery stalk all finely chopped and cook until it is translucent 2-3 minutes or so in some oil and butter.   I then added the left over of some white wine to get the bits up from the cooking so far.  Add 1 lb of sliced mushrooms and raise the heat to saute until mushrooms begin to soften. This is where I changed the original recipe - it was only 1/2 lb of mushrooms and 1/2 oz of dried porcinis.  There were no porcinis so skip it and keep going. 

Once the mushrooms are soften, add 2 to 2-1/2 qts of your favorite stock - today's choice - chicken. Since I added the wine, I cut back on the stock.    Throw in a couple of bay leafs, S&P, I added some dried parsley and some thyme and cook for about an hour or so until the barley really puffs up and the soup becomes thick.

Oh - one more addition - I cooked up two links of my favorite chicken sausages from the D&D and added them to the soup.

YUM YUM  That's one thing I love about cooking - you can always add and subtract to make a recipe - sometimes you come up with just the twist that makes it truly your favorite.

Tomorrow's lunch is going to be really good!