This is a great tasting and incredibly nutritious soup that's hearty enough for dinner. It also makes filling lunches during the week. The soup is full of vegetables, lean chicken, and fiber-rich barley, making it especially good for diabetics and anyone else wanting to "eat healthy." I like to use whole-grain barley (sometimes called "hulled"), which will digest more slowly, helping to keep blood sugar from spiking. Pearled barley is easier to find and will work, too. Pearled barley has been partially refined, but it's still a good source of fiber and nutrients. This is an especially cheap meal to make if you use leftover chicken and use the bones to make the broth. Yes, stewing down the bones is a bit of a production, but it's easy, inexpensive, and yields far better tasting broth than the stuff from cans or boxes. The stewing/broth making also can be done a day or two before you want to make the soup (see below for how). What does the soup taste like? It's like chicken noodle or chicken rice soup but with barley. The barley has a slightly nutty taste and a bit of chew or texture. It's really good! This is definitely a "comfort soup," it's worth making whether you are diabetic or just want to feed your family something nutritious and tasty. Enjoy!
Chicken and Barley Soup (Diabetic-Friendly) -- Makes about 2 Quarts
2-3 teaspoons of canola oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 cup of chopped or shredded carrot
1/2 cup of chopped celery
1/2 cup of barley, hulled or pearl, rinsed well (if it's hulled barley, soak it for a couple of
hours in water, then rinse it well)
2 quarts of chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of pepper
1 tablespoon of reduced sodium chicken base (I use "Better Than Bullion")
2 teaspoons of dried parsley flakes
1-2 teaspoons of poultry seasoning (depending on how much seasoning is in your
chicken broth and how much you like it)
1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder
2 - 3 cups of chopped, cooked chicken (depending on how much you have and how
much meat you have in your broth, if any)
Parsley to garnish, optional
Heat the oil over medium-high heat in a large soup pot and add the onion, carrots, and celery. Saute them for five to eight minutes or until they begin to soften. Add the barley and saute it with the veggies for a minute or two. Add the chicken broth (and any meat in the broth) and bring the mixture to a boil. Add the salt, pepper, chicken base, dried parsley, poultry seasoning, and garlic powder and stir them in. Reduce the heat to medium-low, and let the soup simmer, partially covered for at least an hour or until the barley and vegetables are getting soft. Stir in the cooked chicken and continue to cook the soup for another 30 minutes, partially covered, and stirring periodically. If you want a thicker soup, just let the soup cook a little longer and the broth reduce down. Taste the soup and add additional salt and pepper if necessary. Garnish the soup with chopped or dried parsley if you like.
How to Stew Down Your Chicken Bones (Make the Broth)
Start with the carcass from a baked or rotisserie chicken (it's fine, good even, if some of the meat is still on the bones) or just use cooked chicken thigh and leg bones from which you've removed most of the cooked meat. Put the bones in a big pot along with about two quarts of water, a teaspoon of onion powder, half a teaspoon of garlic powder, a teaspoon of poultry seasoning, a half teaspoon of salt, and a little pepper. Bring the pot to a boil, stir the bones/water well, turn down the heat to a simmer and partially cover the pot. You want the bones/water to simmer for an hour or two until any remaining meat on the bones falls off and the bones yield a flavorful broth. You can stir the broth periodically, if you want. You also can add a bit more water, if you'd like, if you think too much of the liquid is cooking down. Turn off the heat, remove the lid from the pot, and let the broth cool until it's just warm. Fish out the bones and any fat and cartilage and discard them. Pour the broth (and any meat that came off the bones) into storage containers and refrigerate the broth to use in soup and other recipes. When you're ready to use the broth and remove it from the refrigerator, you probably will see a layer of fat on the top of the broth. I usually scoop it off with a spoon and discard it, so as not to clog up my arteries (and because it's kind of gross-looking). Some people prefer to use the fat (sometimes called schmaltz, or "liquid gold") in their soups/recipes in lieu of butter, lard, or olive oil. Either without or with the fat, your broth is now ready to use in soups/etc.. Enjoy!
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