Vegetable-Bean Soup with Spelt

This recipe is probably the last I'll do for a while playing around with spelt, since I've now used up the entire package I bought a couple of weeks ago. Here, spelt takes the place of barley in a hearty vegetable soup! This recipe makes a big batch, but leftovers are great to heat up for lunch at work.

Heat 2 teaspoons olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add 1 and 1/2 cups chopped onion, 1 and 1/2 cups chopped leek, 1/2 cup chopped carrot, and 3 chopped garlic cloves; saute for 5 minutes.

The original recipe called for 1/2 cup of chopped country ham, so I used the vegan ham slices from Light Life - 4 slices chopped is about 1/2 cup. Add the 'ham' to the saucepan, and cook for 2 minutes.

Add 2 cups water, 1 cup uncooked (rinsed and drained) spelt, 1/4 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp. black pepper, 1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper, 28 ounces vegetable broth, 2 bay leaves, and 1 thyme sprig. I realized last minute that I had no fresh thyme, so used 1/4 tsp. dried thyme instead.

Bring to a boil, then cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 30 minutes.

Stir in 2 cups chopped beet greens, 2 (16-ounce) rinsed and drained cans of cannellini beans, and 1 undrained (14-ounce) can of diced tomatoes; bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for about 5 minutes.

Discard the bay leaves. Ladle about 1 and 1/4 cups of soup into each of 8 bowls. Instead of the shaved Parmesan called for in the original recipe, I sprinkled each serving with 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of the grated vegan Parmesan from Galaxy Foods.

Each serving is 240 calories.

Cost:
onion $1.17
leek $3.32
carrot $0.36
vegan ham $2.79
vegetable broth $3.49
beet greens $3.49
canned cannellini beans $4.38
canned diced tomatoes $1.99