Oh My Goodness...made these this evening. Shaved them with my ceramic slicer and nothing could be easier. Used olive oil and butter, then tossed in some REAL bacon bits at the end...Let them sit in the pan long enough to get a bit of brown/caramalized and they were delicious and nutty...even the teenaged boys who turned up their noses dove back for seconds. FOUR teens ate brussels sprouts!!! Hades has frozen over in our city. A definate KEEPER...thank you

Dont mess with the pressure cooker. I think in this instance it is way too much work. Plus having a soup simmering in the kitchen in the winter--sending its fragrance thru the house is a huge plus. The package of sausage (sweet italian) I bought had 5 in it...the package of chicken had 3...so I kinda scaled up from there. I sued the same ammt of barley and lentils. Also the same ammt of stock. I also used a cube of Mexican chicken/tomatoe boullion and that gave the stock a richer flavor. I simmered everything together for about 3.5 hours and everyone at the house said it smelled "heavenly" (my 14 year old) Next time I will leave out the barley--I dont think it contributes anything to the soup. I will also leave out the spinach--it was kinda slimey. Some carrots in the next batch and a bean mixture instead of the 'banzos. The stock was delicious and it is a definate base for experimentation. With potatoes, I think it will be very similar to the zuppa Toscana soup at the big olive chain restaurant.

At the suggestion of some other useres, I used 2 cans of Rotele. It was highon the spicy side with that much Rotele. Will use one can and some diced fresh plum tomatoes next time. The teens in our hous said it looked "disgusting" and were hesitant to try it. It does not look very appetizing and it was problematic. I ended up rolling up as burritos for them and adding alot of cheese in the roll. We adults at it plain or with chips and sour cream on top. I had leftover pork roast and cuban black beans from Christmas and the black beans give it the ookey color. If I make again I will use pinks or pintos so it doesnt have that grayish color. Overall quite tasty tho once you get it past your eyes.