If it makes you (or your family) feel better, Pips, even light soup recipes usually involve sauteing the ingredients. It just brings out the flavor, I think. But it depends on how much oil/butter you use to saute them. I don't generally use very much when I saute my vegetables, but I don't like too much oil in things for the most part.
Here's my recipe for Tomato Barley soup. Got it from the internet but made some changes.
You need:
2-3 stalks of celery
2 big carrots
1 onion
3 or 4 cloves garlic, or however much you like
1 can of diced tomatoes with the juice
1/2 cup uncooked barley
4 cups stock (I use vegetable, you can use chicken)
Saute the celery, carrots, garlic, and onion right in a big soup pot with a bit of olive oil, until they're a bit soft--about 5 or 10 minutes. Then dump in the barley, the stock, the tomatoes, and some salt and pepper. I add some herbs at this point, usually basil and maybe some oregano but it's up to you. You don't even have to put the herbs in at all. Just make sure to have a really flavorful stock, since that will make the recipe. I like to add about another cup of water because I like a brothier soup. But it doesn't really matter. Bring all of the ingredients to a boil and then turn the heat down to simmer for about 35-40 minutes, or until the barley is cooked. And that's it.
Very simple but flavorful. It's also quite an adaptable recipe. You can add zucchini, cabbage, potato, or any other sort of vegetable depending on your preferences.