Soupy Goodness Part Deux

I just ate a bowl of soup. Wow.  I won’t publish the recipe I worked from, but if you have a Sprouts nearby, just get their free magazine and it’s near the back.

However, I made some fairly significant changes, so I’ll publish my version. Sound good?

• 3 cups sliced mushrooms (you can use a variety, as I did, or button, portobella, shiitake, whatever floats your boat)
• 3-4 cups veggie broth
• 1/2 small onion, thinly sliced
• 2 large stalks celery, thinly sliced
• 2 cans black beans, drained & rinsed. Leave 1 can of beans whole; mush the others up with a potato masher or in your food processor until they’re kind of mashed but not pureed. Unless you want them pureed, in which case go for it.
• a pinch or two of powdered kelp
• soy sauce
• Bragg’s aminos
• a bag of baby spinach, washed and dried

Put everything except the spinach in a slow cooker, and cook on low for 4 or 5 hours. Add the spinach, and cook a little bit longer.  The recipe said it makes 4 servings; we’ll get more than that out of it. It sounds simple, and it is, and it’s just amazingly good.  My onions and celery are still a little crisp, which is a pleasant contrast in texture from the soft mushrooms. The broth was very savoury. Don’t know what else to tell you, but go make it. You’ll love it!

Soupy Goodness

I’m trying a new soup recipe today, one I found in the complimentary magazine I picked up yesterday at Sprout’s: Shiitake Black Bean Soup. Of course, being me and on a limited budget, I did have to make a few adjustments.  The mushrooms are a combination of frozen mixed mushrooms and fresh button mushrooms. I didn’t have the time or money to make it to anywhere that has some of the ingredients–kombu, shiitake mushrooms, etc., and I didn’t have any miso, alas.  I substituted powdered kelp, and hope that will add to the flavour. And I used soy sauce and Braggs. It smells quite good, so I’m optimistic.

I made a great bean soup last week, too. I’d never had anasazi beans before, so this was a total experiment that paid off. 

**Pick over a cup or so of dried anasazi beans, then cover with water and soak overnight.  Drain off the soaking water, rinse the beans well, then cover with water and cook until they have a nice mouth feel.

**Saute in just a little canola oil some chopped onion, chopped celery, sliced garlic, 1 chopped red bell pepper and 1 chopped green bell pepper, and sliced mushrooms.  Pour in a cup or so of good merlot, and reduce.  Pour in the beans, and add another two or three cups of veggie broth, sliced carrots, thinly sliced cabbage, 1 can of Ro-Tel tomatoes (undrained), and about 2 cups of whole kernel corn.  If you like it hot, you can also add a thinly sliced, seeded jalapeno pepper.  Throw in a generous pinch of crushed red pepper, a couple of tablespoons of chili powder, and about a tablespoon of cumin.

**Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for a while until you can’t wait any longer.

What kinds of soups are you cooking up this January?

2010

Wow. It seems like only a few years ago we were partying like it was 1999, which for me and Izzybella involved cheesy tiaras, fake champagne, and Dick Clark on TV.  Even that was less lame than the way I ushered in 2010 (going to bed early).

So here it is, a new year, calendars full of blank pages waiting to be filled. Blog posts to be written. I’m not sure what else I’ll accomplish in 2010, but I hope to fill this year with a life well lived.  Today started the year off on the right foot: Joe dragged my sorry butt out of bed and took me out for a late breakast. We then went to Grapevine Mills for some quality mall walking or, if your knee feels like mine, some quality mall hobbling. We also watched Avatar, which I really liked. Then we went to Sprouts to get a few vegetables, stopped for dinner at Seven Salsas, and then headed home to give and receive snuggles with the dogs.  Joe left to catch some music, and I’m about ready to poop out.  So, with no further ado, I shall leave you with the Random Thought for the Day.

RANDOM THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:

I just watched Deadline and looked it up on IMDB to see what they had to say about it. Not much, and that was not good, in case you’re wondering. Anyway, I noticed that more than a few reviews mentioned Brittany Murphy’s apparent inability to keep her mouth closed. I’ve seen this hatred elsewhere for people who keep their mouths open. Why all the loathing for so-called mouthbreathers?  I ask because my mouth is almost always open. That would have to do with the misalignment of my jaw–it’s not comfortable for me to keep my mouth closed.