Barley and Lamb Stew (from Alton Brown)

My memory's going. I've been trying to use up food that's been sitting around in my kitchen for too long. I've been pawing through things that have lingered in the cupboards and hidden away in the back of the fridge. Found some frozen strawberries and was very pleased with myself when I threw some in a blender with a cup of yogurt and made myself a quick and delicious smoothie. Then I went to my computer to tell you about it only to find that I had already made that particular discover 4 years ago with the Banana Strawberry Smoothie.

And the other night, as I went to put my dirty dishes away after dinner, I saw a glass of wine sitting on the counter. "Oops. I meant to drink that with dinner. And I was thinking about having wine all day. Do you think I'm becoming an alcoholic?" I asked my boyfriend.

"No. An alcoholic wouldn't forget to drink a glass of wine."

"But I've been thinking about alcohol a lot lately. Maybe I'm just a forgetful alcoholic?"

"No. A forgetful alcoholic would pour a glass of wine, drink it, and forget that they'd had a glass of wine, pour a new glass, and drink that too. You're just forgetful."

It's true. With the sub-freezing temperatures we've been having, I wanted a hearty stew. While I thawed out a package of Lamb for Stew, I searched the web for a good lamb stew recipe. Found an Alton Brown recipe with good reviews that looked easy enough. And it used barley! I had a small bag of barley that I needed to use up. Perfect. I also threw in the rest of a bag of dried small white beans that I had soaked overnight and cooked up too. I was so pleased with the results I sat down at my computer again to write up notes so I could post this only to realize -- Hey! I made this last September already. I liked it then too.

And I still like it. So now I'll post this before I forget again.

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