Chicken Barley Soup

I am way behind in my posts.  All I want to do is sew.  Like a mad frenzy.  Sew, sew, sew.

I wanted to tell you about this pretty amazing article on Oprah that was written by Martha Beck .  Go there, read it.  I was definitely moved by it.  It is called, "How To Believe In Yourself".  Here is a little snippet of the article. "Since you can't control other people's thoughts, and since neither people nor their thoughts are perfect, there's no point in living life based on your fantasies of other people's fantasies about you. Got it? Excellent. I'd stop right now, except for one thing: Emotionally, we nonpsychopaths are built to care what others think of us. It's part of our social-primate biology. Our brains are like those surgical theaters with glassed-in observatories. We operate under the constant scrutiny of an imaginary audience. Sociologists call this audience our "generalized other." Some generalized others give us a daily dose of support and inspiration; some can be witheringly cruel. Sadly, even if yours is flat-out evil, you can't just will yourself to be indifferent to it. Happily, I've found a way to get it out of your mental business."

Read more: http://www.oprah.com/spirit/How-to-Believe-in-Yourself-Stop-Negative-Thinking/1#ixzz2B05RIbuq

Chicken and Barley Soup

8 chicken thighs, skin and fat removed
2 tablespoons poultry seasoning
2 cups pearl barley
1 pound mushrooms, chopped
4 carrots, diced
2 ribs of celery, diced (add in leaves as well)
1 large onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 bay leaves
1 quart chicken broth

In a casserole dish or a 9 x 9 pan arrange thighs in a single layer.  Sprinkle with poultry seasoning and salt.  Cover with aluminum foil and bake until just shy of done- about 140 F.

In a large soup pot, put 2 cups of barley along with about 2 quarts of water. Add in bay leaf.  Cook barley covered until tender.  This will take about 45 minutes.  While barley is cooking, prepare vegetables, chopping all.  Add all the vegetables and garlic into barley when it is nearly tender.  In a frying pan saute mushrooms in butter. until golden.  Add to soup pot.  When chicken is cooked add in the juice of the chicken.  Chop chicken into bite sized pieces and add to soup.  Add in extra broth if desired or just add a few tablespoons of chicken soup base.

(If my side yard where my herb garden wasn't  soaked I would have added a couple tablespoons of parsley as well.)