Barley Vegetable Soup

An overabundance of tomatoes and green beans at the end of last year brought about the creation of this soup. With or without the barley, it is a hearty soup, packed with veggies.

BARLEY VEGETABLE SOUP

One large soup pot

Water : You want to add just enough water to cover the ingredients as you go. At the end when the tomatoes are added, this should be just enough liquid to cook the barley.

Saute

1 minced onion, medium or large- I prefer sweet onions
4 tsp minced garlic

in 3 TBSP margarine or butter

Chop 3 stalks of celery, leaves included

Add celery to onion mixture and cook down

Peel and slice 3-4 carrots

Add carrots to the pot with just enough water to cover the mix.

Cook at least 5 minutes before adding the next ingredients.

Dice into 1/2" cubes 4 medium idaho potatoes. Add to soup.

**No brown potatoes??- Red potatoes will cook down a little too much, so care should be taken.

Add 1-2 cups of fresh green beans and 1 cup of fresh peas now or

if using canned, let the potatoes cook about 5 minutes first,

then add 1 cup frozen peas and 1QTY 15-16 ounce can of drained green beans (not french cut).

Cook another 3 minutes or just long enough for the potatoes and fresh beans to cook through but not break down.

When I originally created this recipe I had over a dozen smallish tomatoes from the end of the season. I blanched the tomatoes to remove the skin. Then I pureed them in a food processor.

This year, I have 25cent canned tomatoes and they have worked great. Honestly, paste, diced, or any tomatoes work just fine. Use about* 4 cups of whatever you have.

Puree 2QTY 14-16 OZ cans of whole tomatoes and add to the soup

along with

3QTY veggie bouillon cubes,

3 TBSP of fresh parsley,

and 3/4 cup quick cook barley.

At this point the instructions on the barley box will be your guide. If you've added a minimal amount of water as you've added ingredients, then the tomato puree should have added enough liquid to cook the barley. Use your judgement. Remember that barley will thicken the soup as it cooks. Add a little water at a time if it gets too thick for you. The box will have a recommended cooking time.

Finish by adding 1 TSP salt and 1/2 TSP ground pepper.

TOP IT OFF:

My husband loves adding hot sauce to his soup.