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Celebrate soup season

Carol Turtle

How do you ensure you’ve got healthy, hearty, fast meals ready at a moment’s notice? Carol Turtle of Canyon Creek relies on her go-to soup recipe. She adapted this recipe for Divine Barley and Lentil Soup with Swiss Chard from Bon Appetit, and it always results in a huge pot of soup, she said. She freezes leftovers in 2-cup containers for easy reheating.

“For being a ‘brothy’ soup, it really is hearty and delicious,” she said. “Since I don’t eat chicken soup anymore, it’s my go-to comfort soup.”

DIVINE BARLEY AND LENTIL SOUP WITH SWISS CHARD



11/2 cups chopped onions

11/2 cups chopped peeled carrots



3 large garlic cloves, minced (I

recommend using a garlic press)

21/2 teaspoons ground cumin

10 cups (or more) low-salt vegetable

broth

2/3 cup pearl barley

1 141/2 oz. can diced tomatoes in juice

4 cups (packed) coarsely chopped

Swiss chard (or any other greens). I

usually use a whole bunch.

2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill,

or I use 11/2 tsp. of dill weed.

Add onions and carrots; sauté until onions are wilted and slightly brown. Do this without oil. Instead, add water, up to 1/4 cup at a time to keep the vegetables from sticking (makes cleanup a breeze, no splatters on the stove or greasy pan to clean!).

Add garlic and stir 1 minute.

Mix in cumin; stir 30 seconds.

Add 10 cups broth (see tip) and barley; bring to boil. Reduce heat; partially cover and simmer 25 minutes.

Stir in tomatoes with juice and lentils; cover and simmer until barley and lentils are tender, about 30 minutes.

Add chard to soup; cover and simmer until chard is tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in dill. Season soup with salt and pepper. Thin with more broth if desired.

Tip — I use Better Than Bouillon reduced sodium vegetable base that I order from Soups Online. I use only 1/2 tsp. bouillon per cup of water, which is half of what they recommend. You can always add more salt later.

For making 10 cups of broth in this recipe (and one less container to wash), I heat one cup of water and mix it with the 5 tsp. of bouillon and add it to the pot. Then pour the other 9 cups of water in separately. It’s all going to get mixed anyway, right?)


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