Vegetable barley soup

Ingredients

• 6 cups salt-reduced vegetable stock
• 1 diced brown onion
• 2 minced garlic cloves
• 1 cup pearled barley
• 1 cup of green beans, chopped into halves
• 350g sweet potato, chopped into 1cm cubes
• 4 medium carrots, chopped into 1cm cubes 2 celery stems, chopped into 1cm cubes
• 400g can of diced tomatoes
• 1 dried bay leaf
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp mixed herbs
• ½ tsp black pepper
• 1 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1 tbsp olive oil

Method

1. Rinse barley in a colander and leave to drain.
2. Heat oil in a large pot and add onion, green beans, sweet potato, carrots and celery. Sauté for 5 minutes, stirring regularly.
3. Add the mixed herbs, bay leaf, garlic, salt and pepper to the pot. Stir for 1 minute.
4. Add the rinsed pearled barley, diced tomatoes and vegetable stock. Stir to combine, then bring to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes or until barley is cooked (chewy but not hard in the middle).
5. Stir in the parsley leaves. 6. Ladle into bowls and serve with your favourite wholemeal bread.