Southwestern Chicken Barley Soup

I rarely use recipe books. I have a few that I reference from time to time, but for the most part, if I'm looking for a recipe I search online.

I have a binder that I keep any recipe that I try online and like. I also include in there any recipes that I have tried or would like to try, that I have torn out of a magazine.

I like using an online "cookbook" b/c I can alter my search requests based on what I have on hand. For instance if I am looking for a carrot cake that is low fat and uses applesauce to replace some of the oil - I can type it in just like that. I don't have to weed through a million other carrot cake recipes looking for one that uses appleasauce.

On Friday I decided I wanted to make a soup using two main ingredients I had on hand and wanted to use - chicken and barley. I googled my search words and Voila! A recipe popped up on the Allrecipes.com website that sounded delicious - "Southwestern Chicken Barley Soup". We like spicy foods - so I took a quick gander at the ingredients and decided it would work.

It tasted great! The alterations I made were: skipping the 1 can of chopped green chilies, using the quick cooking variety of barley (and used double the amount) and instead of a combo of water and chicken broth - I just added about 3 or 4 cans of chicken broth

So if you are looking for a yummy soup recipe this weekend - give Southwestern Chicken Barley Soup a try!

Polish Style Red Borsch Soup

I found a cute little package of borsch soup and decided to give it a try. The directions are simple - just add water. Can't mess that up. The listed ingredients are: beet powder, vegetable fat, sugar, salt, citric acid.

My children are of Polish descent along with Ukrainian, Scottish and Swedish (on my family's side) and German (on my husband's side of the family).

I have tried homemade borsch made by my mother when I was growing up. This delicious, hearty soup contained things like cabbage, onions, dill weed, beets and potatoes. Usually mom would serve it with tea biscuits (what Americans might call baking soda biscuits) - yum!

My dd enjoys canned sliced beets, so I figured she might like this soup. Wasn't too sure about the boy.

Let's just say I was the only one who finished my soup. The soup was a beautiful red color with flecks of something floating on top (parsley??). It had a pleasant, sweetish beet taste. Though the color was pretty, and the taste all right - it definitely needed some bulking up. If you didn't have beets on hand and wanted to make beet soup - this package would make a good base for the soup - just throw in some cabbage, potatoes etc., to thicken it up and make it into a meal rather than an appetizer.

I made some "tea biscuits" to serve with the soup.