Tomato Barley Soup

It’s definitely Fall!

First soup of the season: Tomato lentil w/ Barley
My measuring and unit conversions got the best of me. Even in college, I could do integrals in my head, but ask me to do division, and I was stumped. After 3 hours in the kitchen, I ended up with a batch large enough to feed an army. The barley expanded and made the soup so thick, that the consistency was closer to a risotto. It was a good base though, and we made the best of it by adding different things each time (one thinned as a vegetarian soup, one thinned with mini-meatballs, another with salmon, and another thickened as a side with chicken w/ goat cheese). Lesson learned: I’ll definitely use a light hand with the barley next time….