LENTIL, VEGETABLE AND BARLEY SOUP

I usually make a big pot of soup every weekend with the goal to have the ability to take soup for lunches for work during the week.  This soup craving is more of a fall/winter/spring occurrence than one occurring during the summer.    Of course you have to have some variety as after eating the same soup for five days in a row, you likely will want a change the following week.  I probably have about eight to ten different kinds of soups that tend to be my favorites.   In a perfect world one would freeze a number of containers of soup so that you could rotate recently made soup with frozen soup for lunches.

Provided below is one of my standard soups.  I made a big pot of it this past Sunday.  You can vary the vegetables based on what you have in the fridge or freezer.  With having a garden and of course growing zucchini, I shred garden zucchini each year and freeze it in two cup portions.  I tend to add shredded zucchini to many soup recipes.

LENTIL, VEGETABLE AND BARLEY SOUP

INGREDIENTS:

1 large onion, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 tbsp olive oil

1 cup lentils

1/3 cup pearl barley

2 stalks of celery, chopped

3 carrots, chopped

3 small potatoes, chopped

5 to 6 frozen or fresh tomatoes, if fresh chop them up

2 cups of zucchini, shredded or chopped

10 cups of water

4 tsp chicken bouillon

1 bay leaf

1 tsp dried basil or dill

salt and pepper to taste

1 to 2 tbsp lemon juice

DIRECTIONS:

Heat oil in a large pot and sauté onions, celery and garlic until golden brown.  Add carrots and potatoes and sauté for a few more minutes.  Add a little bit of water if vegetables are starting to stick.   Add all of the remaining ingredients except the lemon juice.  Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer for an hour.   Stir occasionally.   Add lemon juice and discard bay leaf. 

Adapted from “Meal Lean i Yumm” by Noreen Gilletz