These soups can be eaten as a start of a dinner or with salad and bread as a meal. These soups are hearty, delicious, healthy, and vegetarian. The stew is not vegetarian, but is a hearty alternative to chicken soup. The stew is particularly good when you have a cold or your allergies are acting up.

Mushroom- Barley Soup

Cook ½ cup of raw pearled barley in 1 ½ cups of stock until tender. Add 5 more cups of stock, 3- 4 tbsp. of tamari (soy sauce), and 3-4 tbsp. of dry sherry. Sauté 2 cloves of minced garlic and 1 heaping cup of chopped onion in 3 tbsp. of butter. When soft add 1 lb. of sliced fresh mushrooms and ½- 1 tsp. of salt. When tender add to barley. Simmer 20 minutes, covered, over lowest possible heat.

Spicy Tomato Soup

Sauté 1 ½ cup of minced onion and 3 cloves of crushed garlic in 1 tbsp. of butter and 1 tbsp. of oil. in a kettle or large saucepan. Cook 5 minutes, until translucent, then add 1 tsp. of dill weed, 2 lb. can of concentrated, crushed tomatoes and 2 cups of stock or 6 cups of chopped canned tomatoes and their liquid and 1 tbsp. of honey. Cover and simmer at least 45 minutes on low heat. Whisk in sour cream 5 minutes before serving. Garnish with chopped scallions.

Zucchini Puree

Place 7 cups of chunked zucchini (3 medium), 1 cup of chopped onion, 2 cups of stock or water and 1 ½ tsp of salt in a saucepan and cook until the zucchini is just tender. Puree in a blender. Put in a pot and whisk in ¾ cup of dry milk, ¼ cup of sour cream, a pinch of celery seed, and ½ tsp. basil. Heat until hot enough to serve and top with scallions.

Chicken Stew and Dumplings

stew: in a large pot gently boil boneless, skinless chicken thighs (about 1 per person you are feeding) totally covered in water (6-8 cups) for ½ hour. Add 2-3 chicken bouillon cubes, around 4 scrubbed, chopped potatoes, 1 chopped onion, 3-4 chunked carrots, and 1-2 chopped celery sticks. Cook 45 minutes to an hour or until the potatoes are cooked. In a separate container whisk together 1 ½ cups of milk and 12 tbsp. of flour. Add to the chicken mixture, stirring well. Add 1 cup of frozen corn. Additional items that are good in this stew is mushrooms and/or broccoli.

dumplings: mix 3 tbsp. of oil, 1 ½ cup of flour, 2 tsp. of baking powder, and ¾ tsp. of salt. Stir in ¾ cup of milk. Drop by spoonfuls on the top of the stew which should be just lightly bubbling. Cover and cook 10 minutes longer. This recipe may be doubled If you are serving a few people, really like dumplings , or want leftovers to go with any leftover stew.