Bean soup, requested.

Sunday night, The Mike made a request for Bean Soup for Monday. He decided the coming cold weather was just begging for a rich, hearty soup.  Plus, we'd had baked ham, so he knew what to do with leftovers---er, what I could do with the leftovers!  Luckily, I still had some of Bob's bean mix on hand from last winter. I don't make bean soup very often, I'm not a seasoned cook at it like my mom was, so I decided to add the two cups of beans to a quart bottle and top it off with water to soak the beans. 

After just an hour, I knew that wasn't going to work very well---the beans had already absorbed all that water-- and moved the beans to a small plastic container, about 4x7x4, and filled it with water to about three fourth's full, beans included. This worked well overnight to soak the beans. Some beans started to split open, others just swelled a bit. About two in the afternoon I rinsed the beans well in a colander and then put them in my large AllClad pasta pot.  To this I added a diced onion, about a cup of chopped celery, and three diced/chopped carrots. Seasoned with two bay leaves.  I added a quart of Kitchen Basics Vegetable Stock, plus a quart of water. (Bob's recipe says to use 2 1/2 quarts, but I wanted a thicker soup).  For the meat, I added Beeler's Ham, which I had on hand. Some of it was baked Saturday with cloves, allspice and pineapple, and I also added the end of the ham---no bone, just the 'wrapped' end of the ham for some awesome tastiness :-)  

Bring to a boil, stir, cover and reduce to simmer for three hours minimum.   

At this point, I decided to test the theory of adding baking soda to reduce the magical toots of beans.  I added about two teaspoons and it fizzed like crazy chemistry fun. 

It didn't eliminate the issue, but has seemed to diminish the quantity.  

After three hours, this is what the soup looked like. Pretty thick, with only about a inch or less of liquid on top, making it a hearty soup. 

 
I removed the end ham piece and soooo easily shredded it in the bowl.  This is what winter is all about: fall apart meat candy goodness. 

To go with the bean soup, I also made Bob Red Mill's cornbread.  I followed the recipe on the package, except I used tapioca, teff, buckwheat flours, and I had to bake it for about 45 minutes instead of 30 minutes. 

For future, I'd add more celery and carrots to the soup.

As the night turned colder, and the snow fell harder, it was a perfect dinner to spoon a soup.  

There's a driveway between the cornflowers and bridal wreaths!

 About five new inches of snow, and -16ºF at 7am this morning.

Bean soup

2 cups Bibs Red Mill mixed beans Soak over night

Next day (12-24 hours later):

Rinse beans, put in large stockpot.

Add: 2 quarts of water 1 diced onion Celery to taste (I added a cup rough chopped) 3 carrots, diced (or more or less for your taste) 2 bay leaves Ham. I added the leftover baked ham which I diced, plus also the end of a ham, added whole.

Bring to boil, then cover & reduce to simmer for 3 to 3.5 hours.

Before serving, remove ham and shred, then return to pan.

Chicken Soup

The Mike had asked if we had any soup in the cupboard and I hadn't bought any in sometime. I did head to the store on Sunday and bought some gluten free/organic soups that we can heat up (with ingredient lists that  are not scary).

Thursday night we had some ice and the weather turned cold (and frightful). . .
After the snow came on Saturday evening/Sunday morning we had about 4 inches of (delightful) fresh powder.  The Mike went out snow-biking (wide tire bike) and I baked away in the kitchen (banana bread, cookies, rice krispie treats--the box now says "gluten free made in dedicated facility!)

Three hours later The Mike came home from his bike ride, cold, but not frozen, and I whipped up some fresh Hershey hot chocolate to warm his body.  Then we had some of the soup I bought at the store with UDIs bread grilled cheese sandwiches.

Later, when the cookies were done baking, I made this chicken soup for Sunday evening.

Chicken cheese soup

I modified a recipe I had printed off the internet for Chicken Tortilla Soup and sadly, the page I had printed out didn't have the webpage/owner on it, so I cannot give credit. However, since I modified the recipe, I can say this one is my own.

I used three Just BARE Chicken breasts (14oz package), cooked those in the stockpot. When they were done, I removed them and --when cool--cut into small cube

To the hot pan I then added:
1 diced onion
 and heated until translucent.

Then I added:
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp coriander
2Tgarlic

When these were all in the pot and had been stirred/heated to let the flavors of the spices come out, I added a can of diced tomatoes, two small cans of diced green chiles. I added in the cut up chicken.  

I let that heat up/simmer while I made the 'roux'/thickening agent.  The recipe calls for 1 cup room temp milk, so I just microwaved it for 30 seconds or so and got it up to room temperature. [If you're doing a paleo version, you could use other milk, or just chicken broth at this point]

In a small pan, I melted 2T butter [or ghee, or coconut oil], added 2 T of tapioca flour, mixed that together until it thickened, then poured in and started whisking the milk into the flour mixture.  I added in a cup of shredded cheese at this point and whisked that until smooth. [you could leave out the cheese]

Then I poured all of this into the mixture of the chicken/tomatoes/onion and stirred well.  At this point I added in about 16 oz of chicken broth and then brought all of the soup up to a small boil and then simmered for about ten minutes.

I served with sliced avocado, crushed corn crackers ( Food Should Taste Good® is what we had on hand).

You can finish off with sour cream, shredded cheese, diced fresh tomatoes, diced cilantro, guacamole or whatever interests you!

I'd say it took about 40 minutes from start to finish, but I wasn't really watching the clock.

The soup would be fine without the cheese if you're doing a paleo recipe

Colorful chicken soup for the holiday season

 Ingredients/shopping list:

Chicken ( I used 14oz, you can use more or less)
1 diced onion ( I used white onion since it was a chicken dish)
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp coriander
2Tgarlic
1 can of diced tomatoes
2 small cans of diced green chiles

1 cup room temp milk [other milk or extra chicken broth]
2T butter [ghee, or coconut oil]
2T of tapioca flour
1-2 cups shredded cheese (I used cheddar)  [this could be omitted]
16 oz of chicken broth

Toppings:
sliced avocado
crushed corn crackers
sour cream
shredded cheese
diced fresh tomatoes
diced cilantro
guacamole

or whatever interests you!