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I was really in the mood for a spicy, comforting, highly nutritious soup to serve as my vegetable side dish with dinner.  Unfortunately, most soups offered at restaurants, specialty food stores, grocery stores or the processed kind in those god-awful canned varieties contain way too much sodium.  Innocent victims think they are eating healthy by having “soup”, yet wake up the next morning with puffy eyes and bloated bodies.  No thanks!

This fresh and clean Kale Barley Soup proved to be a nice diversion from the usual go-to steamed vegetables or large salad to pair with some basic chicken breasts we already planned to grill.  The soup’s vegetables provided ample filling fiber and colorful nutrition, while the whole grain barley served my main carb too.

We had plenty of leftovers for a lunch or dinner side dish another day.  For variety or to create a complete meal with it, just add chunks of fully cooked protein such as turkey, chicken, shrimp or extra firm tofu before re-heating it.  But do one or the other — Either your main protein is in the soup or on the side, but not both.

This thick side of soup literally took me 20 minutes to eat.  THAT is what creates such a great and Easy Skinny Life.  I was stuffed after one serving of a grilled chicken breast and 2 cups of my Kale Barley Soup.  I even sliced up a sweet Honey Crisp apple afterwards, too.

It was a perfect high protein, high fiber, quality carb, high vitamin and great tasting dinner.  (That’s a mouthful).

The recipe is adapted from Clean Living magazine, although I eliminated the salt completely.  If you wish, just add a tiny crackle of gourmet sea salt on top before you eat it to make the flavor really pop.

Kale Barley Soup:  Skinny Food for Comfort

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 4 carrots, peeled, halved lengthwise and sliced into half-moons
• 2 gloves fresh garlic, minced (or use 4 forkloads from a jar for my lazy version!)
• 1 plum tomato, chopped
• 2 cups of cooked barley
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1/4 tsp ground turmeric (Note:  I used more, which turned it darker than the pretty magazine version, but it tasted good!)
• 1 bunch kale, chopped (about 6 cups)

Directions:

• In a large skillet or pot, heat oil on medium.  Add onions and saute 3 minutes.
• Add carrots and saute 10 minutes until soft.
• Add garlic, tomato, barley, cumin, turmeric and stir to combine.
• Reduced heat to medium-low and add 2 to 4 cups of water.  (I used 2 cups of water because I like my soup extremely thick. Recipe calls for 4 cups.  Your choice).
• Cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
• Add kale, cover and simmer for 5 to 10 more minutes.   (I simmered for much longer while I grilled chicken for the entrée, and the soup still tasted great to me).

Hints: Start the barley as soon as you walk in the door.  It takes 45 minutes to cook, but I made plenty of extra to store in the refrigerator for other uses.  Or cook the soup on a lazy Sunday for easy lunches during the week.

Nutritional Information:  2 Cups for a Dinner Side Dish or for a Lunch Portion:  220 Calories, 5 grams Fat, 42 Carbs, 10 grams Fiber, 6 grams Protein

Enjoy it!

Kathy