Mushroom Barley Stew

Lucullian Delights and Joanna's Food has paired up with another wonderful blogger Accidental Scientist to handle this months Heart of the Matter The deadline for submitting is February 23rd. Even if you don't enter, we all know we should be eating healthier so go take a look and see what you might enjoy preparing for your family or even just yourself. The turn out entries are abundant and the recipes are phenomenally good.

This is really a soup recipe that I turned into a stew by making the vegetables chunky and adding leftover roast beef I had chopped.

Ingredients

1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
1 cup chopped carrot
2 cups mushrooms (can be cremini, Portobello, or even button)
1/2 cup uncooked pearl barley (toast the barley for a nuttier flavor)
4 3/4 cups beef broth low sodium
1/3 cup finely chopped celery
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh or 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

a splash of Sherry adds another good flavor

Adding the beef is optional and is not in the nutritional guide.

Method

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion, carrot, and mushrooms; sauté approx. 7 minutes or until golden brown. Stir in barley, and sauté 2 minutes. The sauteing of the barley gives the stew a nice nutty flavor. Add stock, celery, and salt, and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20-30 minutes. Add thyme, and cook 5 minute

4 servings (serving size: 1 1/2 cups)

Nutritional Guide...CALORIES 217(19% from fat); FAT 4.7g (sat 1g,mono 2.1g,poly 1g); PROTEIN 13.9g; CHOLESTEROL 20mg; CALCIUM 42mg; SODIUM 624mg; FIBER 6.8g; IRON 2mg; CARBOHYDRATE 31.1g

Your heart's gonna love this one

Just in time for Heart of the Matter #3 I came up with a very easy, very quick pasta dish. Doodles and I had fallen in love and ordered this dish every time we visited our Mom in Ft Wayne, Indiana. So simple but quite tasty. This fits this month's criteria for a healthy pasta dish. You still have time the deadline is May 22.

Funny thing is, I really hadn't tried to make it but found myself with only a few ingredients and a hungry husband so here is what I came up with.

Pasta with mushrooms

• Cook enough pasta for two people, reserve a bit of cooking water
• Clean and slice very thin about 8 ounces of crimmini mushrooms ( I used the Cuisinart)
• 1 tablespoon of minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
• about 8 small fresh basil leaves, chopped
• about 3 tablespoons very good olive oil

Heat the oil in a large skillet, quickly saute the garlic and thyme. Add the cooked spaghetti and stir until coated with the garlic oil and herb. Remove from heat and stir in the mushrooms and basil. If this looks too dry, add a bit of reserved cooking water. Season with salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste and serve with a dusting of Parmesan cheese.

This was very flavorful and would make a great lunch or even a main dish with a nice green salad. Well, it satisfied the hungry husband.