Vegan Tuesdays - Barley Soup and Grilled Bread with Tomatoes

The really wonderful hot spring weather we were having has come and gone. It's chilly again, especially at night. So, I made a big pot of soup-vegetable barley, one of my favorites. It's really easy to make, and is tasty as leftovers.

Vegetable Barley Soup
2 quarts vegetable broth (you may need more if soup gets too dry)
1 cup uncooked barley

1 cup uncooked split peas
2 large carrots, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes with juice
1 onion, chopped
3 bay leaves
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon paprika

Pour the vegetable broth into a large pot. Add the barley, carrots, celery, tomatoes, split peas, onion, and bay leaves. Season with garlic powder, sugar, salt, pepper, parsley, curry powder, and paprika. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer over medium-low heat for 90 minutes. The soup will be very thick. You may adjust by adding more broth or less barley and split peas if desired. Remove bay leaves before serving. **adapted from allrecipes.com

I also made some grilled bread with tomatoes-one of our favorites. Grill thick slices of good Italian bread until lightly browned-you can do this on an outdoor grill, or an indoor grill pan. As soon as the bread is done, rub each slice with the cut side of a clove of garlic. Then, rub each piece of bread with the cut side of a tomato. Season with salt and drizzle with olive oil. I love this bread so much I could make a meal of it!

Please check-out Wendy's blog, "Pink Stripes", to see what bit of vegan deliciousness she cooked up last night. http://pinkstripes.wordpress.com/