Anyone who loves soup knows that there are thousands of versions of Minestrone. Loaded with flavor, it’s a simple soup to prepare. This version is adapted from one found in Twelve Months of Monastery Soups by Brother Victor Latourrette. He and his brother monks live at Our Lady of the Resurrection Monastery in New York.
Category: Vegan
This post is the first of what will be a weekly series entitled Soup on Saturday. Every Saturday, I’m going to post a soup/stew/chili recipe for you to try out.
Since it’s snowing here today, I was looking for something hearty. If you use this recipe, please post a comment and let us know how it turned out. Enjoy!
Black Bean Soup
1 cup dried black beans, soaked overnight in cold water
1 1/2 tb olive oil
2 red onions, diced
1 red pepper, diced fine
1 green pepper, diced fine
2 celery stalks, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 bay leaves
2 tsp oregano
4 cups low sodium vegetable stock
2 tb tomato paste
3/4 cup corn kernels (I used Trader Joe’s Roasted Corn)
salt and pepper to taste
Rinse soaked beans under cold water, drain and set aside.
Heat the oil in a large, heavy sauce pan on medium. Add onion and cook for 6-7 minutes, or until soft.
Add peppers, celery and garlic and cook for another four minutes.
Stir in black beans, bay leaves, stock, tomato paste and oregano, along with two cups water. Simmer, partially covered, for about 30 minutes, then add corn and cook for another 15 minutes or until beans are tender.
Remove bay leaves from soup, stir to taste, and serve.
Recipe serves six. Prep time 30 minutes. Cooking time 1 hour.
I raced home from the gym the other day and I was starving. I was craving a bowl of chili, and remembered that I had all the ingredients waiting in my kitchen.
Since the summer, I’ve been stocking my pantry with lots of canned goods, and I pick them up whenever they’re on sale. Be sure to get no salt added items whenever possible. I also have an assortment of dried beans, but they take an overnight soak before I can use them, so for this quick meal, I used canned.
Looking for one more gift for someone special? Someone you really care about? Consider picking them up a copy of The Full Plate Diet.
This New York Times bestseller isn’t pushing some fad diet. Instead, it’s about getting back to basics. The whole premise is that we can lose weight and feel better by eating more fiber.
The authors cite several major studies which show those who eat a diet rich in fiber can reduce the risk of developing cancer by 30-40%, help diabetics keep their blood sugars under control, and lower the risk of heart attack and strokes by up to 40%.
Categories
Butternut Squash with Spinach
A few weeks ago, I went to a big pot luck dinner. As I was moving down the line, I came upon a beautiful dish of butternut squash.
It looked like the squash had been roasted with some onions and herbs, and later spinach and dried cranberries were added.
I scooped up a big serving, and spent the rest of the meal enjoying every bite. After everyone went through the line, I went up for seconds. Because it looked to healthy, most people evidently passed it up. Oh well 🙂
Squash and apples are pretty bountiful right now. Roasting them together adds a nice depth to their wonderful flavors. Throw in some garlic, and you have a simple and tasty soup, perfect for a cold fall evening. Enjoy.
Roasted Squash and Apple Soup
serves six
3 lbs butternut squash
2 medium granny smith apples, halved and cored
1 head garlic
4 cups vegetable stock
Salt and pepper to taste
Pinch of nutmeg
Pinch of thyme
Cut squash in half, scoop out seeds and place cut side down on a parchment lined baking sheet.
Cut garlic head in half and place cut side down with squash on baking sheet.
Place apples cut side down on baking sheet as well.
Bake at 400º for 35-40 minutes.
Scoop squash and apples from skins and place in saucepan. Squeeze roasted garlic halves from their skins into saucepan as well. Add 3 cups of the vegetable stock and with an immersion blender, blend until smooth. Add more stock to obtain desired consistency. Heat and add salt and pepper to taste. Add nutmeg and thyme. Optional: Add a bit of curry powder, hot paprika or cayenne pepper for a bit of spice.
Categories
Great Fall Tastes
We’re all looking to improve our health and well being (at least I hope you are) 🙂 I came upon this list the other day, and thought it would be good to share it with you. Everything on the list is pretty easy to find, especially in these days leading up to Thanksgiving.
Over the last year or so, I’ve developed an appreciation of beets, one of the items on the list. When I was a kid, I remember my mom eating beets. They tasted like dirt to me, and I avoided them with a passion. Last fall, I was in a restaurant in Baltimore, and there was a roasted beet salad on the menu. I tried it and was really impressed with what roasting can do to the flavor of this simple and nutritious ingredient.
I’ve written about Dreamfields Pasta in the past, but during this second week of Diabetes Awareness Month, I wanted to mention them again. This is a fantastic product for anyone watching their carbohydrate intact, whether they are diabetic or not. You’ll have some terrific health benefits, and I promise that you won’t detect any difference in quality, texture, or taste 🙂
When I first met with a diabetic educator almost two years ago, she basically told me that I wouldn’t be able to eat pasta again, unless it was a very, very small portion. Ouch. Of all the foods I would miss on my new diet, I would put pasta ahead of meat.
I learned about Dreamfields from an ad in one of my mother’s diabetes magazines. I jumped onto their website and was impressed with what I read. Dreamfields was a great addition to a diabetes diet 🙂 🙂 The reason for this is because of the way the produce their pasta. You can find the specific details on their website, but for now let me just say that a serving of Dreamfields pasta has only FIVE carbs and is 65% lower gylcemic index than traditional pasta.
Yesterday morning, I was looking through one of my favorite cookbooks, Twelve Months of Monastery Soups. I wanted to try to make something quick, simple, and, of course, tasty. I also wanted to prepare something I hadn’t made before. Brother Victor’s Swiss Chard and Lentil Soup met all my criteria, and the end result was one of the best soups I’ve made.
Generally, I don’t use swiss chard much, mainly because it’s not always available at the grocery store, but I have gotten some at my local farmer’s market. Determined to make this recipe, I went on the hunt for this main ingredient, and found it at the first store I went to. Perfect.
Categories
Italian Lentils
I was talking to a friend yesterday, and he was telling me how much his fiance likes lentils. Me too. In fact, lentils have become a staple in my diet, and I prepare them several times a week.
They are a great source of fiber and protein, and the add a meaty texture to most dishes. They are also very low on the glycemic index, which means that your blood sugar will not spike after eating them. Instead, they provide more balanced source of energy.
I like to prepare lentils in many different ways, but my favorite is to make a soup/stew with them. You can check out a couple of recipes by hitting the main course tab to the right.
No matter how you prepare them, I think you’ll enjoy the meatiness of these members of the legume family. They are also very inexpensive.