This big batch vegetable barley soup is a weekday lifesaver, waiting patiently in the freezer to be called to duty for a busy day’s lunch or dinner. Better yet, it’s so healthy you’ll feel like a saint eating it. Perhaps its even healthy enough to accompany two pieces of buttered bread? (Asking for a friend.)
Buy up all of the late summer produce you can right now and cook up this comforting, delicious soup to preserve a little summer sunshine for the chilly months to come! 
Vegetable Barley Soup Recipe
Big Batch Summer Vegetable Soup
Servings: 4 Quarts
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 large yellow onions, chopped into half inch pieces
- 4 cloves garlic chopped
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 large zucchini, chopped into half inch pieces
- 3 medium tomatoes, chopped into half inch pieces
- 2 large ears of corn, kernels cut off
- 10 cups chicken or vegetable stock
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/2 tsp oregano
- 1+1/4 tsp salt,
- 1/8 tsp pepper
- 1 cup barley
Instructions
- Over medium heat, add the olive oil to a large stock pot. Add the onions and garlic and sweat until translucent. Stir into the tomato paste and oregano and cook until fragrant.
- Add the zucchini, tomatoes, corn, stock, bay leaf, salt, and pepper, and bring to a boil. Maintain a gentle boil/ high simmer and add the barley. simmer until barley is soft, about 25 minutes. Serve immediately with crusty bread, or cool and store in 16 oz portions in the freezer for up to six months.
