15 Bean Soup with Bacon

Lately we have been trying to eat more beans as main dishes (they're supposed to be so good for you and your heart and all that) and I have to admit I have been having a hard time finding good main dish recipes. Beans (in America, anyway) are usually served as a side dish, and more often than not are slathered in barbecue sauce and brown sugar. I don't think there's anything wrong with that, but it's not exactly main course fare! If we're eating beans for dinner, I want the recipe to be hearty and satisfying, not sugary. Thankfully, this recipe is both hearty and satisfying, and it has become one of our family favorites. And of course as an added perk, beans are incredibly inexpensive - You can feed an army for less than $1 a person, as the saying goes!

It may seem like this recipe takes FOREVER to make (soaking the beans overnight, boiling the beans, simmering the soup), but it actually requires very little actual working time - I would say maybe 15 minutes total, just to saute the bacon and the onions.

Ingredients
1 lb bag 15 bean stew bean mix
1/2 lb sliced bacon
1 quart stock (I use beef, but chicken is great too)
1 can fire roasted diced tomatoes
1 large onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced or passed through a garlic press
1/4 cup flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
kosher salt
cracked black pepper
optional: cayenne pepper to taste, white or brown rice for serving over


1. Remove the beans from the packaging, and place in a large pot. Discard that little packet of MSG (it's bad for you!) Fill the pot with cold water, covering the beans by at least 2 inches (I didn't do this last time, and my exposed beans sprouted. Lesson learned!). Let sit at least 6 hours or overnight (you can do this in the morning or the night before. More soaking doesn't hurt!). Rinse the beans in cold water, until the water runs clear. Cover with cold water, and bring to a boil. Boil beans for about 2 hours, skimming off an scum from the surface of the water. When beans are tender and soft when pierced with a fork, they are done. Remove from heat, and pour off any excess water ( I never seem to have any - mine often turns to soup all on it's own when the small beans disintegrate. If this is the case, just reduce the amount of stock you use to 2 cups).

2. Dice bacon strips into a small dice. In a large, heavy bottomed sauce pan, saute bacon over medium heat until very crisp and golden, about 15 minutes (if it's soft at all, it get's mushy and chewy in the soup), being careful not to burn it. Remove bacon with a slotted spoon, and place diced onion and garlic in the left-over bacon grease. Saute until softened and beginning to brown, about 5 minutes. Add stock, diced tomatoes, beans, bacon, parsley, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon cracked black pepper. Bring to a boil, and simmer 60 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add cayenne pepper to taste, and correct seasonings if it needs more salt or pepper. Serve on it's own, or with a little dollop of sour cream. Also great over rice!

Ina Garten's Italian Wedding Soup • Gluten free! Or not.

This blog is seriously turning into a Barefoot Contessa fan page, isn't it? And two soup recipes in a row? But I can't help it! Ina's recipes are SO GOOD. They are exactly my favorite kinds of food: classics that have been updated to be lighter and brighter, and which pack a powerful punch of flavor. And of course, this soup is no exception.







Being a Californian (and not an Italian or from Ohio/Pennsylvania, where this soup is apparently very popular), I had never had Italian Wedding Soup before making this recipe. The most I had to compare it to was plain Jane chicken noodles soup, and may I say that this soup absolutely blows chicken noodle soup right out of the water? It's like everything that chicken soup ever wanted to be, it's so deliciously perfect. Not to mention that it's ridiculously easy. I love that the meatballs are baked in the oven; it's so much less work than frying them, and they are much less greasy and heavy than traditional fried meatballs. This isn't Nate's favorite chicken soup (go figure. Probably the dill), but it sure is mine. Next time I come down with a cold (or I just get a hankering for something warm and comforting) this is going to be the first thing I ask for.






Ina Garten's Italian Wedding Soup • Gluten free! Or not.

I had a dickens of a time finding chicken breakfast sausage, and I had to go to four (yes FOUR) grocery stores before I could find it. I finally found some at Trader Joe's, which is the only place I know of that carries it. If you can't find it anywhere, I think turkey breakfast sausage (as well as ground turkey) is much more widely available. Alternatively, you might use chicken/turkey italian sausage and even pork sausage if you really can't find anything.

The second difficulty for me was that the recipe calls for 1 cup of very small pasta, like stars. I haven never seen any gluten-free pasta that small, so I wasn't sure what to do. Finally (brilliantly, if I do say so myself), I gave some uncooked rice spaghetti a whirl in the blender, and it came out perfect! If you don't eat gluten-free then don't worry about it, but if you do end up using this method, keep in mind that rice spaghetti is much starchier than wheat spaghetti, and all that starch may thicken up your soup. To avoid this, you can use less pasta, or cook the spaghetti separately, strain and rinse it, and then add it to the soup. Or you can do nothing, if you don't mind a thicker soup (I don't).

For the Meatballs
3/4 lb ground chicken (or turkey)
1/2 lb chicken sausage, casings removed
2/3 cup bread crumbs (I like to pulse up leftover gluten-free bread in the blender, and then store it in he freezer until I need it)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese (the kind that comes in a green can works great. Save the expensive fresh stuff for grating over the hot soup)
1 extra large egg, slightly beaten
3 tablespoons milk
kosher salt and freshly ground black Pepper

For the Soup
olive oil
1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
1 cup finely diced carrots (2-3 carrots)
3/4 cup finely diced celery (2 stalks)
2.5 quarts chicken stock (10 cups, preferably home made)
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 cup small pasta, such as stars or broken up spaghetti (precooked or not)
1/4 cup minced fresh dill
12 oz baby spinach
freshly grated Parmesan cheese


1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking tray with parchment paper. In a large bowl, mix together ground chicken, chicken sausage, bread crumbs, garlic, parsley, Parmesan, egg, milk, and salt and pepper to taste (all the meatball ingredients). Using a teaspoon, scoop meatball mixture in even measures, placing each scoop on the prepared pan. Don't worry about making the meatballs round, just scoop and plop. Bake meatballs in preheated oven until firm and browned, about 30 minutes.

2. In a large heavy bottomed pot, heat olive oil, and saute onion and garlic until softened and translucent. Add carrots and celery, and saute another 5 minutes or so, until vegetables begin to brighten in color.

3. Add stock and wine, and bring soup to a boil. Add (precooked or not) pasta, and reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer 10-15 minutes, until pasta is al dente and vegetables are soft.

4. Add meatballs, and dill. Simmer 2-3 minutes. Remove heat from pot, stir in baby spinach. Serve, top with freshly grated parmesan, enjoy!

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup, two ways

Before James was born, I thought that a baby would have zero impact on our food budget. After all, babies are so tiny! They couldn't possibly eat more than a few tablespoons of food at a time.. right? Well, maybe some babies don't eat much, but my baby has an appetite the size of Manhattan. I cannot fill that kid up! I feel like I spend most of my time roasting, steaming, and sauteing food for that kid, because, number #2945 of things-they-don't-tell-you-before-you-have-a-baby, BABIES EAT A LOT. You think that a person who only weighs 20 lbs would eat less than his parents, but sometimes I think he eats more than the both of us put together.

If you are new here, I can't eat gluten (wheat protein), and James can't eat casein (milk protein) or soy, and James isn't old enough to eat eggs or meat yet, which means, essentially... I have a voracious infant vegan on my hands. Who is also gluten-free and soy-free. Oh my. (I would like to point out that we eat this way for legitimate medical reasons, not as an affectation or because it happens to be the fad right now. Why people think diet restrictions are hip or sophisticated is beyond me. After three years of eating gluten free, I would kill for a chocolate croissant or a slice of sourdough bread that wouldn't, you know, kill me.)





In the beginning, I had no idea what to feed him, and so for the first couple of weeks we ate quite a lot of bananas, rice noodles, apple sauce and steamed carrots (and oh, how that child needed more fiber in his diet. Whoops! Sorry baby.) But after a while I started to get my groove on and got smart to some excellent vegan alternatives: coconut oil for butter, almond milk for cow's milk, coconut milk for cream. After a while, it actually got a little fun, and to be honest, this whole "feed a vegan baby" has turned out to be quite a good thing for all of us. We are cooking lighter and fresher, and it has forced me given me the opportunity to try all kinds of new vegetables. Scary vegetables. Vegetables I have been putting off trying for about 20 years. Things Like kale (yummy), brussel sprouts (so fun!), beets (stains everything pink), and squash (FAAAB!). I can't believe that until now I have never even tried butternut squash. If you like pumpkin flavored anything, you'll like butternut squash. It's got the same rich buttery taste and smooth texture, but is pumpkin's sweeter, lighter cousin. It's great roasted, steamed, mashed, sauteed, slathered in butter, sprinkled with kosher salt etc. etc. I love it and we have been eating one or two a week all month.

The following recipe can be made two ways: soup for mama, and soup for baby. Vegan, and not vegan. Mama's way includes butter and half & half, baby's vegan way includes coconut oil and coconut milk. Both ways are delicious!





Roasted Butternut Squash Soup • Vegan and Not-Vegan

Butternut Squash is in season right now and tastes its best this time of year. Roasting it is my favorite way of eating it; it really brings out the flavor and adds in all these delicious caramel notes. Look for fruits that are very firm with smooth waxy skin, and are heavy for their size. Those ones taste the best!


Ingredients
1 medium butternut squash
1 medium brown onion, diced
2-3 cloves fresh garlic, minced
1 bunch fresh thyme, minced (2-3 tablespoons)
4 cups stock (vegetable, beef, or chicken)
2-3 tablespoons butter or coconut oil
1/2 cup half & half or coconut milk
kosher salt and cracked pepper to taste



Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cut butternut squash in half lengthwise, and roast, cut side down, on a baking sheet, until skin is browned and flesh is soft when pierced with a fork. Remove from oven and let cool. Scoop out seeds.




Scoop and scrape the flesh from the skin, and reserve in a large bowl.




Meanwhile, heat butter (or coconut oil) in a large heavy bottomed pot over medium high heat. Add onion, garlic, and thyme, and saute until softened and beginning to brown.



.
Add stock, scraping up any browned bits that cling to the pan. Add squash, breaking it up with a wooden spoon as you stir. Bring to a boil.





Lightly puree soup in a food processor to taste - some people like it more chunky, some like it less. Just don't over-puree it so that it has no texture at all! Return soup to pot, add 1/2 & 1/2 or coconut milk, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Depending on the thickness of the soup, you can add more stock (or some water) to thin it our, or if it is too thin simmer it down to the desired consistency. Adjust seasonings, serve, and enjoy!

Rustic Basque Chicken Stew with Tomatoes, Potatoes, and other Yummy Things

Blog, I've missed you. And I am so tired of explanations and excuses, so I'm not going to go into it. Honestly though, I needed a break. The last six months of my life have just been so crazy, so full of crisis, sleeplessness, and borderline hysteria, that now that things have finally begun to settle down I just needed to chill OUT and get my life back together.

BUT.

Now I'm back! And I have so many yummy autumnal recipes to share with you! And so many cute pictures of this little one! I love him so, even if he has turned my world upside down shook it within an inch of its life.




This recipe is very special to me. It was one of the very first things I learned to cook when I was about 16, and the first taste of it floored me. I had never tasted something so good, and truth be told, I didn't even know food could taste so rich and wonderful. I'm not going to lie to you - my mom is not exactly the most inspired of cooks, and it was normal for us to eat the same thing every night for dinner for YEARS. My sister and I still joke about the "stuff on rice" years, where we ate sauteed chicken and vegetables on rice every single night for about 6 years. That's 2190 consecutive dinners of the same thing. By the 2189th dinner, we were really tired of it. This stew was SO good, and it still is. It's not as mind-blowing to me as it was back then, seeing as how I eat different things for dinner all the time now, but it's still mighty good. BECKS RECOMMENDS. You may cook now.






Basque Chicken Stew With Tomatoes, Potatoes, and Other Yummy Things
adapted from Paul Williams

The secret ingredient in this stew is BACON. Bippity Boppity Bacon! Don't leave it out. It's important. And so tasty.

Ingredients
2 large chicken breasts
1/4 lb bacon
2 medium yellow onions
2 red bell peppers (or 1 red and 1 green)
1 can fire roasted diced tomatoes
2 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade
2 cups small new potatoes, peeled and chopped into large chunks
1 cup white wine
1 bunch fresh Italian parsley
1 pinch cayenne pepper (about 1/4 teaspoon)
kosher salt
freshly ground pepper
olive oil




Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Brush olive oil over 2 chicken breasts, and sprinkle liberally with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Roast in over 15 - 20 minutes until cooked through. Remove from the oven, and let cool.




Dice Chicken.




Cut 2 red bell peppers in half lengthwise, and remove the stem and seeds. Roast in the oven until tough skins are blackened, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool.




remove skins for peppers, and slice into long strips.




Cut 1/4 lb bacon into small strips. Saute in a heavy bottomed skillet until crispy. Remove from pan, reserving the bacon grease.




Chop two medium onions into long strips. Saute in the reserved bacon fat until softened and translucent.





Place bacon and chicken in a large pot.





Add sliced pepper, sauteed onions, and 2 cups chicken stock.





Add 1 can fire roasted diced tomatoes...





...1 cup white wine...





...1/4 cup chopped Italian parsley...





... and 2 cups peeled, roughly chopped new potatoes.





Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, and let simmer 1-2 hours, until potatoes are soft. Tastes even better the second day. Enjoy!

Chicken Tortilla Soup with Lime and Sundried Tomatoes

Let's say you want to feed a family with one chicken breast. And let's say that you also want to to feed them something nutritious, with lots of whole foods and fresh ingredients. And lets ALSO say that whatever you make, it has to taste AMAZING. Well do I have a recipe for YOU!

When Nate and I got married (has it been 3 years already?) my parents gave us a week at a timeshare in Cancun, Mexico. If you are like me, you like to pack your vacations as full of activities and sightseeing as possible. Mayan pyramids! Freshwater lagoons! Underground rivers! Swimming with Dolphins! Jet skis! Snorkeling! Dancing! Dining!



But not this time. If you have ever been through the insanity of a wedding, you know that once the rings are on and the gown is off, all you want to do is lay on a white sandy beach for a week and chilaaaax. Which is exactly what we did. Every day we got up at noon, wandered down to the palapa for a quick bite, and then spent the rest of the day zoned out on a beach chair, piña coladas in hand. Oh, I suppose occasionally we also, I don't know, read a novel or two as well. It was kind of heavenly.

One of the great things about Mexico is, well, Hot Damn! Do they have great Mexican food! We had some pretty amazing meals while we were there. But honestly, I think one of my favorite meals from that trip was the tortilla soup we had at the palapa every day. It's simple, requires few ingredients, is healthy and low in calories (if you care about those things!), and packs a lot of punch in the flavor department. Limes. Sundried tomatoes. Queso Fresco. It's kind of amazing. Don't trust me? Try it. You'll like it!

Chicken Tortilla Soup with Lime and Sundried Tomatoes

In this recipe I had to use "mexican cheese blend" because, well, when you have a newborn baby you can't exactly just run out to the store everytime you forget something. So I had to make do. If you CAN find it near you, I recommend buying "queso fresco" a mild and crumbly fresh Mexican cheese. If you can't find it that's ok: a mild cheddar should do you just fine.

SOUP INGREDIENTS
1 quart low sodium chicken stock
1 chicken breast
4 corn tortillas, slightly dried out (just leave them out while you do other stuff)
1 can fire roasted tomatoes
1 jalapeño (optional) seeded and minced
1 medium onion, chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
2 large juicy limes
2 splashes olive oil
kosher salt
freshly cracked pepper
1 pint cherry tomatoes
queso fresco

OTHER OPTIONAL TOPPINGS
avocado cubes
chopped cilantro


RECIPE
preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pat the chicken breast dry, then add a splash of olive oil to chicken. Salt an pepper liberally on both sides, and roast in over for 25 - 30 minutes until golden and cooked through.


Meanwhile, heat a splash of olive oil in a large heavy bottomed cast iron pot (a regular soup pot us ok too). Saute onions, garlic, and jalapeño in the oil until just golden.

Add the stock to the pot.

And add the fire roasted tomatoes.

Add the juice of two limes. Mmm. Limes. Yummy. Bring to a simmer.

Remember that chicken? Bring it out of the oven, and let it cool down for 10 - 15 minutes, until it's cool enough to handle. Then, shred that sucker. Use two forks. It's easy!

When it's done, it should look like this. Add that to the pot with the stock. Ok.

THE END. Goodbye.

Just kidding.

Oh yeah. Toppings. DUH. Remember those tomatoes? We are going to roast them! Cut them all in half, and toss them with a splash of olive oil, some kosher salt, and some pepper. Roast them in the over at 200 degrees. When they are chewy (40 minutes or so?) they are done.

Slice the tortillas into matchstick thin slices.

Until they look like this.

Saute them in a little oilve oil on high heat, until they are crunchy.

Ok. NOW you are done.

Unless you want some other stuff. Like avocados. Or cheese. Oh, and those tomatoes? I was totally going to take a picture of them. But I ate them all before I could. They were really good. No. Really, REALLY good.

To assemble, ladle soup into bowls. Top with tortilla strips (don't add the tortilla strips until JUST before serving. Otherwise they will get soggy. Ad nobody like soggy tortillas. Yuck.) Top with tomatoes, cheese, avocado, whatever.



Enjoy!

Creamy Asparagus Soup

Oh internet, it is SO not fair. Here it is, March already, and I thought I had escaped cold and flu season. I thought I was golden! I haven't been sick once this entire winter, which if you take into consideration the fact that I work with children, is a minor miracle. UNTIL. TUESDAY. Because one brilliant student thought it would be a good idea to come to class sick and cough all over me. Boo.

And here it is, March, the birds are singing, the daisies are popping up, the sun is shining, and I am hacking and heming and feeling like a couch-bound lump of miserable. I can feel the sick sitting in my bronchials just waiting to lay me to waste. All I want to do is curl with a blanket and a cup of lemon tea and watch the Colbert Report all day long.

Oh, and eat this soup.

Can't forget about this soup.

I'm not quite that dead yet.



I think a good recipe shows off the flavors of the ingredients. When I was a kid my mom had this old battered red Betty Crocker cookbook from the 1960's full of truly horrible recipes. Everything, animal or vegetable, was rendered totally flavorless in the face of all the sugar, salt, vegetable oil, and shortening used in those recipes. I remember making sugar cookies out of one of the recipes and wondering how such good ingredients, tasty things like butter, flour, and sugar, could be made to taste so bland, so flavorless, so bad.

A lot of times, soup is like that. Until a few years ago, soup for me was the nasty salty stuff that came in a can, all salt and MSG and chunks of mushy bland stuff suspended in a viscous red sauce. Yuck. It makes you wonder how they manage to take live ingredients like vegetables and noodles and make them so dead and tasteless.

This soup is the complete opposite of that. This soup is bursting with fresh, lively flavor. This soup is alive. This soup makes me feel alive, even when I'm sick as a dog and languishing on the couch in a flu-induced stupor. After all those long months of winter, it's good to eat something fresh and alive.



Creamy Asparagus Soup
Serves 4 for lunch, or 6-8 as an appetizer
Tastes great with a grilled cheese sandwich

Part of why this soup is so good is because the asparagus really is the star of the show. This soup is simple, the recipe is straight-forward, and all the other ingredients work together to compliment and enhance the asparagus flavor. I adapted this recipe years ago from a recipe in Everyday Food. However, that recipe made a TON of soup (just, too much soup) and is crazy lemony. I like this version better.

So, lets get started! You are going to need all this stuff:
That is 1 lb Asparagus, 3 tbs butter, 1/2 and 1/2, 1 onion, and thyme. Oh, and also a lemon. Those pesky lemons are always sneaking out of the pictures. Otherwise, that's it! Isn't this simple? No-one would ever guess.


First, peel and chop up your onion.


Then melt the butter in a large, heavy bottomed pot. Mmmmm, butter. Use real butter, I beg you. It tastes so good.


Once that butter is melted, add those onions. Wow, this is so easy, it's embarrasing. Stir those babies up, and let them saute on med-high heat for a bit.


MEANWHILE, there is TROUBLE IN PARADISE. Ok, maybe we don't need to be so dramatic. But see this? This is the ugly side of Asapragus. Specifically, the tough bottoms. We have to get rid of these. And it's so easy. just grab each spear and snap the end right off. Genius.


Now chop that asparagus into 1" pieces. But don't get too precise. No need to pull out a ruler. This is supposed to be EASY, remember?


Remember those onions? They should be starting to smell really amazing right about now. Once they start looking golden, you know they're done.


Add the asparagus, and mix it up. Saute for 5-6 minutes, until asparagus is bright green. There is something REALLY important happening here. It's called FLAVOR. Don't mess.


Add 2 cups of water. Let simmer for 4-5 minutes. Asparagus should still be bright green. Bright green means "still alive." When it starts to look dull green, it's been overcooked. Yuck. Asparagus is done when it's tender if pierced by a fork. Or just eat a piece. That's what I did.


Now take all that green goodness, and put it in a blender. Most people would say, do this in two batches so your blender doesn't explode and the hot contents burn you. But I like to live dangerously. Don't say I didn't warn you though.


Puree on high until smooth and creamy. Mmm.


Return the soup to the pot. Add salt and pepper to taste, and 1/3 cup 1/2 and 1/2. Stir it all up.


And whatever you do, DON'T forget the lemon. The lemon is the magical ingredient that brings it all together. Forgetting the lemon would be tragic. So squeeze 1/2 a lemon into the soup.


Now stir it all up and taste. If if needs a little more salt, pepper, lemon, or 1/2 and 1/2, now's the time.


I think this soup goes perfectly with grilled cheese.


Or just eat it plain. And try not to lick the bowl. No, I change my mind, lick the bowl. Don't ever feel bad about licking the bowl. Life's just too short.

Enjoy!