Southwestern Chicken & Barley Soup - cooking recipe

Ingredients

1 medium yellow onion, diced
2 stalks celery, sliced
1 green pepper, diced
1 tablespoon olive oil
7 cups water
2 low-sodium chicken bouillon cubes
3 skinless chicken breast halves
1 (14 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 cup whole kernel corn
1 (14 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
2 dried ancho chiles
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 cup barley
2 green zucchini, cubed
2 yellow squash, cubed
1 lime, sliced

Preparation

Saute onion, garlic, celery, and green pepper in olive oil in soup pot.
Once onions are soft, add water, boullion, tomatoes, black beans, and chicken to pot and bring to a slow simmer.
Add whole dried chilis to pot for a minute, just to get the dried chili to soften a bit.
Remove from pot. Tear off stalk and remove seeds. Dice chilis into small pieces and return to simmering pot.
Let soup simmer 20 minutes and remove chicken from pot. Shred or dice chicken and return to pot.
Add barley and let soup simmer for 25 minutes.
Add zucchini, squash, and corn and let simmer an additional 25 minutes.
Serve with lime wedges.