Barley & Sausage Soup

It's been very cold here in NY the past couple of days and I thought soup would be perfect!  This soup can be made with either turkey, pork or chicken sausage.  Mine is made with turkey sausage as it's lower in fat than pork.  This soup will also make A LOT and you will have leftovers for many nights.  I froze most of mine.  It freezes well and when you re-heat it, just add more chicken broth or water.

Barley & Sausage Soup

Serves 8-10 with leftovers

Ingredients

1 tbsp. olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

3 stalks of celery, diced

4 carrots, peeled and diced

4 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 (15 oz) can of diced tomatoes

1 pkg of turkey sausage, sliced (my pkg had 6 in it)

1/4 tsp. dried oregano

1/2 tsp. dried basil

1 bay leaf

2 qts. chicken broth

1 cup barley

salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

In a Dutch oven over medium heat, heat the oil and add the onions and saute until translucent.  About 5 minutes.  Next add the celery, carrots, garlic, sausage and the salt and pepper. Break up the sausage pieces. Add the barley, broth and bay leaf.  Stir and bring to a boil.  Once boiling, lower heat to a simmer and cook for 1-2 hours, stirring occasionally.  When the soup is done, add part of it to a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.   Add the soup back to the pot.  This will make it extra thick!  You might even need to add some more chicken broth or water.

Enjoy!