I had some last legs veg that I wanted to use, so I decided that I’d try a different soup, because there are only so many puréed soups a girl can do. This is sorta spring vegetable barley soup, I guess. My lovely lettuce was not fit for sandwiches because it is a bit wilted, but is kinda great for soup. You can add any greens you want to this, but I didn’t want to waste the good greens I had from my veg box, so I used my lettuce and all the parts. It was added along with the last bit of my green pepper, a red pepper, a couple of lonely carrots, a few stalks of celery, onion, and some mushrooms. I added some dried tarragon, garlic powder, and something called “7 spice powder” that a friend gave me and it is kinda great spice mix for a soup or stir fry. Here is what I did.

I chopped up some onion and sautéed it in some oil. Then I added the carrots, celery, peppers, garlic powder, salt, and 7 spice powder. I let that cook for a bit and then added the mushrooms and the thick ends of the lettuce (which I diced). When that was done, I added about 1/2 cup of barley and a bunch of water (so it was about a half an inch above the veg) and brought it to a boil, then let it simmer covered until the barley was tender. Once that was tender, I added the chopped leafy bits of the lettuce, some tarragon, some lemon thyme, a squeeze of lemon, and an extra splash of olive oil. Done.