The KInd Life Community Forum

HI all. I just read Alicia's book and enjoyed it greatly. I love how it gives all the info on why we really all should be vegan in as much that growing animals destroys the planet and our bodies at the same time we murder and torture animals. I wrote something similar in a 10 page paper for an English class a couple years ago and I have passed it to anyone that would read it. I like what Alicia has done even more in that it has even more info. With all that said I also enjoy creating new recipes on a whim. This was inspired buy one of Alicia's recipes as well as other soups I have made in the past. I found barley at the store as well as a Kabocha squash at a local farmers stand. Since I have never had this type of squash I decided to throw it in a soup. Everything else just happened to be in my kitchen.

Vegan Barley Vegetable Soup

Enough water to fill large soup pot 2/3 of the way
4-5 large carrots chopped
1 medium Kabocha squash peeled and chopped (I did this raw. was not fun)
2 cups of barley
5 large Kale leaves chopped small
4-5 celery stalks chopped
2 cloves of garlic chopped fine or pressed
Sea salt to taste
Olive oil to taste
Sage to taste
Black pepper to taste

Before you put water in the pan saute the chopped garlic in the olive oil until slightly browned. I know The Kind Diet advocates more plain foods on the Superhero diet, but I love spices. So I was quite liberal here. After the garlic put in the water and put to a medium heat. Meanwhile chop all your vegi's. A Cuisinart or food processor would make quick job of all the chopping, but I just used my favorite knife. I put in all the vegi's and let the heat build. After about 20 min add the barley and spices to your liking. Let cook on low to medium heat until it boils then turn down and let simmer another 40 min or so. When the barley is soft it should be done. I like my vegi's soft hence all the heating. You could cook less if you like crunchy vegi's.

I considered throwing in some left over beans or homemade seitan(I like buying vital wheat gluten in bulk and making my own seitan), but I decided to focus on the vegi's as I am attempting to be as much of a superhero as I can right now to loose weight and get my diabetes under control. I am usually very much a junk food vegan. I think this recipe falls squarely in the Vegan category, but at least it doesn't have any processed foods. Enjoy!