If you’ve read the Contributors Page, you’d know that soup is something that I can’t get enough of, even if it’s 90 degrees outside.

I was starving today and all I had was a bulk bag of barley, a can of tomato paste, a can of black beans, onion and garlic. I’ve been trying to save money so I picked up a couple things from the store that I could work with to make a meal with what I already had. This soup is what I came up with!

Ingredients

• 2 Tbs olive oil
• 1 small yellow onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 carrot, thinly sliced
• 2 sticks of celery, sliced
• 6 cups vegetable broth
• 1 cup barley
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 can pinto beans
• 1 can black beans
• 1 can tomato paste
• 3 tbs cumin
• 2 tsp chili powder
• pepper, to taste
• tortilla chips and avocado for garnish

Method

Step 1

In a large pot, saute the onion, garlic, carrots, and celery on medium heat for about five minutes.

Step 2

Add broth (for broth I used six cups of water and three bullion cubes) barley, cans of drained beans, drained can of diced tomatoes, tomato paste and spices and let it boil for half an hour, until the barley is nice and soft.

Step 3

Alternatively, you could make this in a crock pot by throwing in all the ingredients and letting it sit for the day on medium heat. If I were doing it this way, I'd most likely use pre-soaked bulk dry beans to keep the cost even lower.