Packet Meals - Hearty Vegetable and Barley Soup

Hearty Vegetable and Barley Soup

^{Nice and warming on a wintery day}

So when a can of soup appeared in my packet meals supplies after raiding my mum's pantry while clearing out the house I was wondering what I'd do with it. Turns out, I'd turn it into something quite tasty and filling.

Ingredients

Can of Heinz Hearty Vegetable and Barley Soup
2 Shortcut Bacon, diced
3* slices Bread
Butter

* It was the end of a Crusty Loaf. If it was a normal loaf I'd use 2 slices. Also likely only 2 from the middle of the loaf, depending on how much you like croutons.

Method

• Empty the can of soup into a saucepan.
• Add 1/3 to 1/2 can of water to get the remaining contents from the can and to stop the soup from being too thick after heating.
• Heat the soup, stirring occassionally, over a low heat. Do not boil.

^{It looks like cold soup still, but it's starting to warm up. Might need to stir it some more}

• Melt butter in a frypan.
• Place Bread in the pan and fry until just starting to take colour.
• Flip Bread and repeat for the other side.
• Fry the bread until it's as crispy as you want.

^{I actually flipped the bread multiple times because I didn't want to burn it}

• Slice the bread into croutons of your desired size.

^{You all know what diced bacon looks like already, but here's some more just to be sure}

• Fry the bacon in the pan until crispy.
• Serve the soup in a large bowl, scatter the surface with bacon and croutons.

^{Bacon sinks. Croutons don't}

Thoughts

• This made what is normally a fairly bland can of soup into something interesting, but there are still some improvements for next time.
• I should have added some spring onions during the warming process.
• I could have added the bacon into the soup as soon as it was cooked, as it didn't stay crispy, but could have gotten more dispersed into the soup
• Garlic in the butter for the croutons. Do I really need to explain how good that would be?
• I'm still undecided on the idea of cutting the croutons up before toasting or after, but It's worth trying the other way.

Previous Packet Meals

Butter Chicken
Beef and Red Wine Casserole
Country Beef Casserole
Marinades Part 1
Creamy Herb and Garlic Potato Bake
Chicken Korma
Steak, Veggies and Diane Sauce
Farmhouse Chicken Casserole
Pasta Carbonara
Roast Chicken, Veggies and Gravy

^{Upgoats made by the talented @ryivhnn}