Crockpot Vegetable Barley Soup: Foodie Friday

Crockpot Vegetable Barley Soup

My childhood food allergies have come back to haunt me. I started a rotation diet to try to calm my allergies. Rotating grains is part of the diet. This is a good thing to do, for anyone, to prevent food allergies... and it is just good for your health to eat a variety of foods.

With nights getting colder here in NY I have been making soup more often. Barley is a perfect grain for soup because like potatoes it thickens the broth. 
Barley is very high in dietary fiber and is an excellent source of iron... and it just plain tastes good too.

Crockpot Vegetable Barley Soup

by Diane Balch

Preparation time: 15 minutes           Serves: 6 - 8

Ingredients:

1 leek chopped

2 carrots chopped

1/2 teaspoon of thyme

1 bay leaf

1 cup of pearl barley

2 32 ounce containers of broth: vegetable, chicken, or beef

1 - 2 tablespoons of olive oil

1  15.5 ounce can of kidney beans

salt and pepper to taste

*optional: any other veggies that are wilting in your fridge (spinach is great)

               leftover meat (chopped up pieces of steak are really good)

Directions:

1) If you have time sauté the vegetables in the olive oil until they wilt. If you don't have time just dump them into the slow cooker.

2) Put all ingredients into the crockpot except the kidney beans. Put it on high for 4 hours or low for 6 - 8 hours.

3) Just before serving add the kidney beans (This is so they will not turn to mush.)

4) Taste before serving to check salt and pepper. Leave the bay leaf in for fun. An Argentinian food blogger told me that it is a tradition in her family, whoever gets the bay leaf does the dishes! 

 soup, barley soup, vegetable barley soup,vegetarian recipe, kidney beans, barley 

Hosted by
Home Maid Simple
and
Simple Living with Diane Balch

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