MUSHROOM BARLEY SOUP WITH SOUR CREAM MUFFINS....

Tonight I made a wonderful "cold weather rainy day" soup.....I haven't eaten barley in years, ever since Campbell's discontinued their Scotch Broth soup.....Boy, I used to love eating that with a cream cheese and jelly sandwich.....but back to my soup. It was a bit time consuming but it really came tasty.....To serve with it I made very simple muffins that I actually saw Paula Dean making the other day.....yes, no mayo in these muffins!! It's just self rising flour, melted butter and sour cream, they tasted just like Chick fil A biscuits......The Boss gave his approval and the soup got the thumbs up....I did let it sit a bit in the crock pot after cooking it on the stove just so the tastes blended together.......I think next time I will add some lamb, diced potatoes and rutabaga to try and re-create the Scotch Broth.....

Sour Cream Muffins.....
2 sticks of melted butter

2 cups of self-rising flour

1/2 pint of sour cream

Blend together and put into non-stick muffin pans (you do not need to butter the pan) bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes until tops are lightly brown....

recipe makes 12 large muffins.....I sprinkled the tops before baking with McCormick's garlic sea salt and it made them very tasty....

Mushroom Barley Soup

Bring 4 cups of water and 1 cup of pearl barley to a boil, cover and let cook for 30 minutes stirring on occasion, While that's cooking.....Saute in 2 tablespoons of olive oil 2 medium diced onions cook for 5 minutes.....Add 2 stalks of diced celery and 1 large carrot diced to the onion and cook covered another 7 minutes.

Add 20 oz. of sliced button mushrooms and cook for another 10 minutes covered. Add 5 cups of chicken broth, salt and pepper and 8 sprigs of fresh thyme cook uncovered for 10 minutes then add the cooked barley and cook another 5 minutes....Add a few splashes of lemon juice and stir. At this point I moved the soup to the pre-heated crock pot and left it simmering on low for about 1/2 hour....

I love McCormick's new grinders, every week they come out with a new flavor to try and the garlic sea salt is great....I also use a tremendous amount of their Italian grind and their black pepper medley....If you haven't tried them yet pick some up next time your at the store, you'll love it....