Recipe Ready: Vegetable Barley Soup

This is a quick and easy vegetable barley soup you can make as below, or substitute veggies and grains based on what you have in your refrigerator and your pantry.

8 cups of fat-free, reduced sodium chicken broth OR vegetable broth
1 cup canned carrots (drained) OR two whole carrots (peeled and sliced)
1 cup canned or frozen peas
1 cup canned or frozen lima beans (drained)
15 oz can of diced tomatoes, including juice
1 cup canned chickpeas (drained)
1/2 cup uncooked barley
1/2 diced onion, or 2 tbsp dried minced onion
1 tsp garlic powder
3 bay leaves
2 tsp salt (add more as you cook, to taste)
1 tsp fresh ground pepper (add more as you cook, to taste)
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp sugar (reduces the acidity from the tomatoes)
1 tsp paprika

Combine all ingredients in a large soup pot and bring to a boil.  Cover and reduce heat to medium.  Simmer for 60-90 minutes and serve.
You can make the soup thinner by adding more broth or thicker by upping the barley to 1 cup.

(This soup makes 7 servings - 2 cups per serving.  Total PointsPlus value per serving is 4.)