A Conversion to Sausage, Bean and Barley Soup

This soup was so good, I've made it twice! 

Modifications: hot Italian sausage, extra 1/2 stalk of celery, fresh herbs instead of dried (so I used approximately three times the amounts listed), and black beans instead of red kidney beans. The first time I made the soup, I intended to replace the elbow macaroni with pearl barley, but spilled 90% of my pearl barley on the floor. So, the soup ended up with about 1-2 Tbsp pearl barley and one handful of elbow macaroni. The second time I made the soup, I used about 1/4 c of pot barley (also known as Scotch barley. It is the only other kind of barley I found in the bulk section of the grocery store and it is supposed to be a little more nutritious than pearl barley). I also added cubes of rutabaga.

Preparation: I've never removed sausages from their casings before, so that was a bit of an experience. Very easy, but probably more enjoyable for 10 year old boys. I won't describe that any further... It was more difficult to break up the sausage than it is to break up ground beef. I'd like to find a more effective method that the back of a spoon or using the spatula. The rest of the prep work involved chopping and measuring. I added the barley with everything else, since I knew it would take more than 15 minutes to cook, but had no idea beyond that.

Verdict: This is a delicious soup!! We both thought it was even better than the beef and barley soup. I think the bit of heat from the hot sausages and the crushed red pepper made it more interesting. The beans and sausages gave it a hearty flavour and made it pleasantly filling. Plus, the tomatoes, onions, celery, rutabaga, carrots and barley rounded things out nicely. I like soups that are not only tasty, but also look hearty, smell hearty, are colourful, and fill me up! 

It's so satisfying to have different grains in my recipes and meals. Pasta is so easy to make and we have it fairly often, so I was happy to drop the elbow macaroni ingredient for barley. It shall go into my recipe repertoire not with the original recipe title, but  as "Sausage, Bean and Barley Soup" - hence, the title of the post.

The recipe does make 8 servings slightly generously.