Vegetable Barley Soup

It’s official—I now have two teenagers. My son just turned 13, and I can hardly believe how quickly the time has flown! I know what you're thinking—she’s going to blog about vegetable soup to celebrate her steak loving kid’s birthday? Not quite.  He had prime rib on his actual birthday, but I did make this soup for the first night of his birthday party camping trip last weekend (along with these delicious sandwiches)

This was our third annual birthday camping trip celebrating my son’s birthday and Sandy and Brian’s twin sons’ birthdays. I was in charge of Friday night's dinner, and we’ve decided soup is a great way to start a camping weekend.  Nothing is better than a belly full of warm soup for a cool evening by the campfire.

This soup is a very flavorful vegan soup. It is an easy dinner to make for camping or on a busy weeknight.  I make sure to always have the ingredients on hand, and that is easy since the ingredients are either in the pantry or freezer. I love this soup! I especially love it the next day when the barley swells up and it becomes almost like a stew.  

Vegetable Barley Soup
Adapted from Fat Free Vegan

Printable Recipe
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 teaspoon dried basil
½ teaspoon dried thyme
½ teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 1lb bag frozen California style vegetables
1 14 oz can diced fire roasted tomatoes
2 32oz containers of vegetable broth – I like Pacific brand for this
a few dashes of tabasco sauce
1 14 oz can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
½ cup uncooked pearled barley

Heat olive oil in a large soup pot or Dutch oven and add the garlic. Cook the garlic for one minute, and then add tomato paste, basil, thyme, oregano, salt and pepper and cook until the herbs are fragrant, about one minute. Add the frozen vegetables, tomatoes, vegetable broth, tabasco sauce, garbanzo beans and barley. Bring the soup to a boil, and then reduce the heat and simmer until the barley is tender, about 30 minutes. Serve.