Black Bean Barley Soup

I was hosting a party one day and I wanted to cook really simple vegetarian so I looked up the vegetarian magazine. It caught me a glimpse of some kind of other dried grains but I couldn't find it at the supermarket so I decided to use the barley instead.

It was so delicious for everyone to enjoy it. I added shredded carrots as decorating to make it look beautiful. I took that picture when I was saving for leftover next day. It does have the burst of flavor by using the secret ingredient, LIME to make it more tart and enjoyable too.

Ingredients:

1 cup uncooked barley

Couple stalks of celery, finely chopped

1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped

1 can of black beans, drained

1 red bell pepper, finely chopped

1 zucchini, finely chopped

Couple of carrots, peeled and finely chopped

Couple squirt of freshly squeezed lime juice

2 or 3 cloves garlic, minced

1 bay leaf, discard once the soup is done

Quart or a few cans of vegetable broth and add more water ( use the can to do a few fill ups)

Throw it altogether and cook throughly until the vegetables become tender and barley plumps up cooked too.