Pumpkin Barley Soup

Finally, back to having time to post again! Bianca and I are both officially done with school, wohoo college grads! Time certainly flies, it feels like yesterday we both left to go away to college. So sadly, the Sisters are no longer living together and only have three more weeks to hang out as Bianca will be coming back to our home in Santa Cruz and I will be remaining in Santa Barbara. The blog will continue though :)

First night back home and I went straight to cooking. So nice to be back in my home kitchen and my mom generally likes my cooking too. I'd actually say that she likes that I cook more than what I'm cooking. Though she's liking a lot more of what I've been making! And this soup she really liked!

I saw a recipe in a magazine, can't remember which one now but it was for a Pumpkin Barley Soup with Sausage. I liked what I saw, minus the meat of course, so I bought all the other ingredients and put my own twist to it. I love pumpkin so I enjoyed the soup a lot! My mom cooked up some vegan sausage patties to replace the sausage I had seen in the original recipe and she loved the combination.

Recipe
1 C barley
1 15oz can pureed pure pumpkin
1 quart low-sodium vegetable broth
2 shallots
2 cloves of garlic
1 T grapeseed oil
6-8 sage leaves
salt and freshly cracked black pepper

Dice the shallots, mince the garlic, chop the sage leaves very finely and saute in the grapeseed oil on high heat until shallots begin to brown. Add the barley and stir for a few minutes letting the flavors mingle with the barley.
Add in the pumpkin puree and vegetable broth. Stir until well mixed, cover and let come to a rolling boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook for an hour or so until the barley is soft.
I know, so simple right! And so delicious! Make this before the wintery season is over, it's perfect for a chilly night.

Blessings,
<3 Dani