Hearty Bean & Barley Soup

I have to say one of the only reason I like the cold weather is the nice warm food you can make to heat yourself up. Of course the day I decide to make soup it is almost 60 degrees outside...and tomorrow it is suppose to be warm.

I was also inspired to make my January recipe after Jenn's party this past weekend. She has our monthly theme calendar printed and hanging on the refrigerator. I think almost everyone asked Jenn what the calendar was all about.


Hearty Bean & Barley Soup
From: Campbell's Kitchen
Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: 40 minutes
Serves: 6

Ingredients:
1 tbsp. olive oil
2 large carrots, coarsely chopped (about 1 cup)
2 stalks celery, sliced (about 1 cup)
1 large onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
3 1/2 cups Swanson® Vegetable Broth (regular or Certified Organic)
1 can (about 15 ounces) red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 can (14 1/2 ounces) diced tomatoes
1/4 cup uncooked pearl barley
2 cups firmly packed chopped fresh spinach leaves
Ground black pepper


Directions:
1) Heat the oil in a 4-quart saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the carrots, celery and onion. Cook and stir until the vegetables are tender.

2) Stir in the broth, beans, tomatoes and barley. Heat to a boil. Reduce the heat to low. Cover and cook for 30 minutes or until the barley is done.

3) Stir in the spinach and season to taste with black pepper. Cook until the spinach is tender.
Review: I like this recipe a lot because it has a simple ingredient list and it is a quick meal to put together. I added ABC pasta to it because I didn't feel that there was enough barley in the soup. I couldn't add anymore because it would have taken another 30minutes for the new barley to cook...I was also afraid that additional barley would soak up a lot of the liquid. My husband came home very late from work tonight and heated himself up 2 bowl fulls of the soup. He really liked this recipe and said that I should add this to the list. That it is up there with the Chili that I make a lot. Defiantly plan to make this again and again.