In a Snowstorm? It's Time for Soup

Thursday night, in advance of the storm, I had a yen to make soup over the weekend. I was stunned when I got to the store and discovered that the shelves were mostly bare...but you know what? No one had seen this recipe yet, I guess, because I was able to pick up what I didn't have in the larder to make Mushroom Barley Soup with Cannelini Beans and Cabbage!

I had most everything but I needed mushrooms and cabbage:

I'm not the best food photographer, but this mixture of red onions (which is what I had), garlic, mushrooms, thyme, and red wine (I didn't have sherry) looked so yummy as it cooked away, I ran for the camera.

That was probably the toughest part of making this soup, chopping the various ingredients. Simplicity was tossing in cannelini beans and shredded cabbage - I bought red, which the Fat Free Vegan used in her version, because there wasn't any other in the store. The bag of pre-shredded was 2 ounces less than the recipe called for, but it was fine that way, after all...

Doesn't that just look yummy? Other things I did? Well, I didn't have the smoked paprika - so I used 1 Teaspoon of regular paprika. And then I pulled out the Cayenne Pepper as FFV suggests. "A pinch" became probably close to 1/3 teaspoon (I shook it in...I like spicy).

I think I'll invest in a bottle of sherry and the smoked paprika. I'd love to make this once and see if I like my version better or hers! I LOVED mine!

And I love that FFV calculates the nutrition content, including the point values for Weight Watchers - a serving of this was 2.6 points! I rounded out the meal with this:

Two teaspoons of olive oil with McCormicks Spicy Blend for seasoning, and a whole grain roll from the grocery's bakery. Total points? 6.

Oh, yes, that roll? Well when I got to the bakery aisle? There was practically no bread of any sort to be found. Apparently folks don't love whole grain rolls as there were just two bags of these? That suited me just fine...
*wink*

Stay warm if you're caught up in this monster storm...and batten down the hatches, as I hear there's another on schedule to hit the mid-Atlantic this Tuesday! Hmm...I'm going to start planning what I'll make for comfort food then!