Mushroom Barley Soup

We love soup so naturally I've made alot of soups over the years, some really good and some not so good. This recipe is hands down, our favourite soup that we've been enjoying over the years. It's good for you with tons of veggies and fills you up and like all soups, it's even better the next day. It's not GF but I/m finding that Parker can eat this with no issues later on. I have used millet in place of the barley before.

Mushroom Barley Soup

1 leek, halved and sliced
3 celery sticks, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp olive oil
3/4 lb mushrooms, sliced
1.5 cups turnips, chopped (I often forget to buy turnips so I use whatever squash we have on hand which is yummy too!)
6 cups vegetable stock or water
1 can diced tomatoes, undrained (I didn't get around to canning tomatoes this year so I've been using a bag of frozen tomatoes I chopped up from our garden this summer)
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp salt and thyme
1/4 tsp pepper and caraway seeds
1 cup barley 4 cups fresh spinach, cut into thin strips (when I don't have fresh spinach I use frozen spinach from Europe's Best, it comes in  little pucks and I use about 6)

In a large soup pot, heat oil and add leek, garlic and celery. Cook until fragrant then add the mushrooms, turnips or squash and carrots. Cook until mushrooms are tender.
Stir in broth or water, seasonings and tomatoes. Reduce heat and simmer for about 15 minutes until turnip or squash is tender. Add in barley and let simmer about 45 minutes or so then add spinach and cook just until spinach is tender. Discard bay leaf.