Instant Pot Mushroom & Barley Soup with Miso
Plus, finding holiday magic as an adult + latke recipes
Since childhood I’ve been a devoted reader with a vivid imagination. It’s always been easy for me to slip out of real life and into stories. In most ways, this feels like a gift. Reading makes my life feel bigger and richer. The fictional characters and settings I encounter often stay with me for years after we’ve met.
In other ways, the books that have fed my imagination since childhood have set me up for disappointment. A vivid imagination can make real life seem awfully dull.
This hits me most acutely in December, when I feel like I should be skimming across a snow-covered field in a sleigh rather than driving my 2006 Prius through traffic on a clogged freeway. Fictional scenes of ice skating with hot cocoa and cozy fireplaces with gorgeous mantles and snow falling quietly in the woods play through my head as I trudge into Target to buy packing tape.
What I would like, if I’m honest, is a holiday portal that I can step through each December that makes my life look and feel like a fictional story. Or at least like a snowy English village?
Wouldn’t it be nice if we could sweep away all the boring, normal stuff this month and just sip holiday cocktails and watch gentle snow falling and listen to carolers at our door?
But alas, the dishwasher must be emptied and the new health care plan must be chosen before Dec 31 and it’s time to renew our homeowners insurance and also ask the kids for the tenth time to scoop the cat litter.
And every night, we must still cook dinner.
On most nights this month, I’m sticking with simple dinners. This lets me conserve cooking energy for the big days of holiday eating. It also lets me spend more time enjoying activities that transport us out of real life and into holiday magic. Like movies and good books and evening walks to see outdoor lights.
Simple dinners might mean grilled cheese sandwiches with canned soup and salad or tacos from a taco truck or the easy pasta dish you’ve made one hundred times and everyone in the family still likes. I’ve been making more soup and chili, so we have leftovers the next day. One of the soup recipes I plan to make soon is mushroom and barley soup.
Instant Pot Mushroom Barley Soup with Miso
This recipe for Instant Pot mushroom and barley soup with miso is one that I love, but I’ll be honest, my kids aren’t quite so enamored. If you suspect the same of your kids, don’t let it stop you from making this soup for dinner.
Pearl barley gives the broth a creamy texture and the earthy flavor of mushrooms is enhanced with soy sauce and miso. It’s a cross between soup and stew, rich but not heavy, and very cozy on a winter night.
When I make a recipe like this, one that I want and I crave, I don’t worry too much about whether or not my kids will like it. They can try the soup if they want to. I’ll also preemptively put something simple on the table that I know they’ll eat, like a baguette & butter or boxed mac ‘n cheese or a plate of fruit.
I hope you enjoy this soup as much as I do! You can find the recipe for mushroom and barley soup here.
Latke Recipes
Maybe you’re also stopping at the neighborhood donut shop for jelly donuts after school today to celebrate the first night of Hanukkah?
This year I hope to officially decide on my “go-to” latke recipe. It’s a tie between Adam and Maxine’s Famous Latkes and a slightly easier recipe from Dinner A Love Story.
If frying latkes sounds like too much work this year, try Trader Joe’s frozen latkes. They’re a favorite at our house and show up on our dinner table all year long. The only downside is that a package only has 8 latkes.
Dinner Last Week
Monday: After a week of Thanksgiving eating, I craved a simple dinner that revolved around vegetables. I roasted zucchini and cauliflower and boiled green beans. I also made a very basic red quinoa and chickpea salad with leftover chopped parsley from Thanksgiving and a generous squeeze of lemon.
I also made Trader Joe’s latkes to satisfy the kids (not pictured are fish sticks from Costco that I can’t seem to get rid of).
Tuesday: I made chicken and rice soup. This was a recipe that I sent to paid subscribers so they could enjoy it too.
Wednesday: We had ground turkey teriyaki, which is a recipe I’ve been testing that will probably debut this month on Kitchen Skip. I’ll share the recipe after it’s published - it’s a quick weeknight dinner that can be served with noodles or rice. I served it with angel hair pasta tossed with sesame oil and roasted broccoli.
Thursday: I’ve had an Instant Pot vegetarian chili recipe on my website for several years that I’ve never been completely happy with. It’s surprisingly hard to make vegetarian chili in an Instant Pot. The flavor can turn out dull and the consistency can easily turn watery. Over the past month I’ve made the recipe several times and I’m finally really happy with it (and my family is really tired of eating chili)!
This vegetarian chili is made from basic pantry staples (canned beans, canned fire roasted tomatoes, frozen corn) plus a few flavor-boosting secret ingredients like cocoa powder, Worcestershire sauce and soy sauce. You can find the recipe here.
Friday: I tried a new recipe for Spinach-Matzo Lasagna, which replaces lasagna noodles with sheets of matzo. The result is a light, pillowy lasagna that tastes surprisingly close to regular lasagna. I’m glad I tried the recipe because I’ve been curious about matzo lasagna for a long time. Sorin and I liked it, but I have to admit I prefer traditional lasagna (so do my kids, who gave this recipe two thumbs down).
After dinner on Friday, the kids were still a bit hungry so we popped a big bowl of popcorn and watched Christmas Vacation. There’s no better way to kick off the season than with Clark Griswold!
Reading
I brought home our first haul of holiday picture books from the library, which always fills me with warm fuzzy feelings.
If you’re looking for more picture book recommendations than I shared last week, check-out the Can We Read? newsletter, which has dozens of holiday books suggestions.
Two more suggestions that have been shared with me this past week are Mr. Willowby’s Christmas Tree and Letters from Father Christmas by J.R.R. Tolkien.
We’re also reading Hanukkah picture books this week, including Hanukkah Upside Down by Elissa Brent Weissman and The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming by Lemony Snicket.
My personal reading list is filled with fictional stories set in winter, which is my favorite way to escape the 80 degree weather we’ve had in LA this week. I haven’t started any of these books quite yet, so no promises about how good they are. If you read one, let me know what you think!
Winter Solstice by Rosamunder Pilcher
Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren
That’s it for this week, thanks for reading!
What do you have planned this weekend? We’re finally getting our Christmas tree and the kids are going to make gingerbread houses.
I’m guessing there will also be some shopping for gifts and maybe I’ll finally get around to ordering our holiday cards?
Hope you have a fun and festive week!
Jenny