Southwestern Chicken & Barley Soup

I recently purchased some barley as a way to introduce new grains to my diet. Found lots of good ideas for barley on this site and came up with my own soup. Perfect fall soup with comfort from the barley and chicken with a little heat from the chilies. Since the ingredients here reflect my pantry and tastes, you should feel free to adapt it to your own. I can see using green beans instead of zucchini or thighs instead of breasts.

• Ready In: 1 hr 35 mins
• Serves: 6

Ingredients

• 1  medium yellow onion, diced
• 2  stalks celery, sliced
• 2  garlic cloves, minced
• 1⁄2 green pepper, diced
• 1  tablespoon olive oil
• 7  cups water
• 2  low-sodium chicken bouillon cubes
• 2  chicken breast halves, skin removed
• 1 1⁄2 cups  canned diced tomatoes
• 1  ear of corn
• 1 (14 ounce) can black beans
• 2  ancho chilies
• 1⁄2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1  cup barley
• 1  medium yellow zucchini or 1  medium green zucchini, cut in to medium cubes

Directions

1. Saute onion, garlic, celery and green pepper in olive oil in soup pot.
2. Once onions are soft (about 5 minutes) add water, bouillon, tomatoes, black beans and chicken to pot and bring to a low simmer.
3. (Use chicken broth instead of water and bouillon if you prefer).
4. Remove corn kernels from cob and add to soup.
5. Add whole ancho chilies to pot for a minute, just to get the dried chili to soften a bit.
6. Remove from pot.
7. Tear off stalk and remove seeds.
8. Dice chilies into small pieces and return to simmering pot.
9. Let soup simmer 20 minutes and remove chicken from pot.
10. Shred or dice chicken and return to pot.
11. Add barley and let soup simmer for 25 minutes.
12. Add zucchini and let simmer an additional 25 minutes.