Tomato Barley Soup

Tonight, I have a photography meeting at 6:30, so thought I'd try using my new slow cooker. I used as guidance a Better Homes and Gardens Vegetable Barley Soup recipe but came up with my own version. Into the 1 1/2 quart slow cooker, I put 1 1/2 cups water, a 14 1/2 ounce can of fire-roasted diced tomatoes with green chili, 1/2 cup green peas, 1/2 onion sliced into thin half moons cut in half, 1/6 cup hulled barley, 1 cube Rapunzel brand vegan low-sodium bouillon, about a tablespoon of chopped ginger, some fresh oregano and rosemary from my garden, and a little salt and freshly ground black pepper.

I didn't get started till around 3:15p; it would have been good to have cooked on low heat for 9-11 hours, but with a goal of eating at 9, I am using low heat for the first 2 1/2 hours then, around 5:45, plan to increase to high heat. If it turns out looking reasonably hardy, which I think it will, I'll probably serve this with toast and salad.

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My wife loved the soup and found it quite hardy; I thought it was reasonable, but would have benefited from having additional vegetables like potatoes and maybe corn. We both really liked the chewy barley; in a similar recipe, I would next time double the amount of barley and perhaps cut back the tomato by a little bit.

We had some delicious spicy red pepper dip leftover from my birthday party on December 30th. I spread the dip thinly on each half of a wheat English muffin, and topped with thinly sliced raw onion and slightly thicker sliced tomato.