After a long week of separation, look who showed up to our dinner:
It’s Baxter…
and Ella!
One of the sucky things about living so far away from our families is that when we travel, we usually have to leave our dogs at home. They stay at a great dog camp out in the woods with tons of room to run around and lots of other dogs (the owners of the camp have EIGHT golden retrievers!). Still, we miss them TERRIBLY when we have to leave them behind 
For dinner, I cooked up a soup with a lot of the produce that we picked up earlier today. It ended up being pretty good! Here’s the recipe:
Barley Vegetable Soup
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 celery stalks, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
1 parsnip, chopped
3 cups swiss chard, chopped
4 cups vegetable broth
1 tbsp. herbes de provence
1 tsp. rosemary
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup barley, uncooked
grated parmesan cheese to garnish
Directions:
In tbsp. of olive oil, cook onion and garlic for about five minutes, until soft. Add celery, carrots, and parsnip. Cook for another 3-4 minutes, and add chard. Cook until chard has wilted down, about 4 minutes. Add herbes de provence, salt, and rosemary. Add barley and stir until it is incorporated in the mixture. Cook for a few more minutes, and add vegetable broth. (You can add some water at this point if the soup looks like it needs more liquid) Bring soup to a boil, and then reduce heat to a low simmer. Simmer for 45 minutes to an hour, until barley is fully cooked. Top with parmesan cheese.
Here are some pics:
It might not look pretty, but it sure tasted good!
Even Baxter got in on the action:
Now we’re all curled up on the couch together, about to watch Away We Go. I think the dogs missed us as much as we missed them 
Hope you’re having a great Saturday night! Good night!
Karla said,
November 29, 2009 @ 1:35 am
AHHHH YOUR DOGS ARE ABSOLUTELY ADORABLE!!
I wish I could meet them! They are just too cute!
Anna said,
November 29, 2009 @ 1:41 am
Aww, thank you! We like them
kilax said,
November 29, 2009 @ 5:03 am
Aww! It’s always so great to reunite with pets! We really miss our cat when we travel too
Happy you made it home safely!
Anna said,
November 29, 2009 @ 12:15 pm
Thanks Kim!
Emily said,
November 29, 2009 @ 5:38 am
Thanks for checking out my blog! That soup sounds really good – I love barley. Also, I never know what to do with swiss chard – I’ll have to try this.
Welcome home.
Barley Vegetable Soup « food, fit & fun said,
January 28, 2010 @ 2:40 am
[...] this soup. Definitely a recipe to keep and to make again and again. I based the recipe off of Anna’s Barley Vegetable Soup. I adapted it slightly, so here is the recipe I used. Served with my favorite Seeduction [...]