48 Bean Soup

Not long ago, The Mr. and I walked into our favorite watering hole and wanted something to eat.  "Hey Johnny, what's the soup today?" I asked.

"I don't know... 48-bean soup or something like that," the barkeep answered.

"Forty-eight?" I doubted. 

"Well if you don't believe me, order it up and count 'em," Johnny smiled.

Well, I did order it.  And I did count them (but I got distracted after the tenth bean and lost count)  Really, it's not 48 Bean Soup.  To be honest, I don't even know if there are 48 different kinds of beans that exist.  It's actually 16 Bean soup, but the joke title stems from interactions we've continued having at this favorite pub regarding this soup. 

The Mr. and I love this soup, so whenever we go to the pub, I always ask Johnny what soup they're serving that day, hoping this is the one on the menu. His responses range anywhere from "18-bean" to "59-bean," depending on how mischievous he's feeling that day, but I seem to remember "48-bean" being the one he uses most as an answer. 

One day, a fellow patron overheard Johnny's response, and playfully exclaimed "That's a lie! There aren't even 48 different kinds of beans!"

"Yeah?" Johnny smirked, "Well order it up and count 'em if you don't believe me!"

Thus continues the joke of 48-bean soup.

Source:  based on the loose guidelines given to me from Gary, the cook

Ingredients

2 T. butter 
3 carrots, sliced
3 celery stalks, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1/2 tsp. minced garlic
12 c. water
1-2 ham hocks
1 lb. bag of 16 bean blend, presoaked and rinsed
Seasoning Packet (included in the bag of beans)
1 tsp. mustard powder
1/2 tsp. pepper
pinch of dried parsley
2 bay leaves
ham, cut into small cubes (I used cottage ham and cut it into small pieces)

Directions

1. In a large pot (I used my stock pot) melt the butter.  Saute the carrots, onion, celery, and garlic over medium high heat till onions are translucent.  

2.  Add the ham hocks, beans, seasoning packet, mustard powder, pepper, parsley, bay leaves, and water.  Bring to a boil. 

3.  Cover and reduce heat.  Simmer for 60 minutes.

4.  Remove ham hocks and add the cubed ham pieces. Continue simmering for 30 additional minutes.  While the soup simmers, trim any usable meat off of the ham bone and toss it back in the soup.  Discard the bone.

5.  Serve hot to warm up a cold, rainy day :)



Verdict: Keeper!!

Honestly, I'm pretty proud of my creation.  Next time, I will probably simmer the soup a bit longer before adding the ham pieces, simply because I like my beans mushier than they turned out here.  If I change anything with the ingredients, I may use a little less ham, or one ham hock instead of two (to cut down on the salt).  Other than that, this one definitely earns a permanent spot in the recipe box.

Pasta Fagioli

I love my Freezer.

This is only a recently developed relationship.  It has only been within the past year that I have truly come to embrace and utilize this under-appreciated half of the appliance.

You see, the Freezer was the Black Hole of my childhood kitchen.  Once something was placed in the freezer, you could forget it. It was gone-- if not forever, at least long enough that you would wonder how long it had been in there when you did see it again.

Chicken breasts that were on sale and required buying them in bulk? Forget about those for another year. 

Pork chops that we could grill out?  Forget about those for at least a couple of months.  

A gallon of ice cream? Well, we never let that get too far out of sight:)   

(Right now, my Mother is reading this and cringing, or laughing, because that's exactly how it was. Sorry Mom! :))

Now that I'm cooking for The Mr. and myself, we often have leftovers.  I will eat leftovers for days and days, until it is all used up.  The Mr., on the other hand, will only eat leftovers for 1 or 2 days before he begins to worry about food poisoning.  There would be recipes that would make so much food we couldn't finish it all before we'd have to throw it out. 

I. Hate. Throwing. Away. Food.

Enter the Freezer. Once I realized that many recipes' frozen/reheated leftovers tasted as good as the first time, I fell in love.  Some soups and chilis taste even better than the first time.  This revelation changed my whole outlook on recipes yielding 8 servings or more.  Now, on days when I don't feel like doing anything, I can pull something out of the Freezer, heat it up slowly on the stove, and dinner's ready. 

Seriously people, that's about as close to food-magic as it gets.

Tonight I reheated Pasta Fagioli, a recipe I tried about a month ago.  As expected, it was (magically) as good as it was the first time.  Just another reminder of why I love my Freezer so much.

Source:  Crockpot Tuesdays (slightly altered, since I don't like to measure veggies)

Ingredients:

1 pound lean ground beef, browned and drained
1/2 large red onion, chopped
2-3 carrots, chopped
2-3 celery stalks, chopped
2 cans (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
4 cups beef broth
1 jar (16.5 oz) pasta sauce
2 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/2 cup dry pasta (to add at end)

Directions:

Brown the meat and drain well. Set aside

Combine all ingredients EXCEPT PASTA in the CrockPot.  Stir.

Cover and cook on LOW for 8 hours (or HIGH for 4 hours). At end of cook time, stir in 1/2 cup pasta. Cover and cook for another hour on LOW.

Serve with parmesan, mozzarella, or any other kind of cheese you like.  Enjoy!

Black Bean Soup

For me, soups are like appetizers-- I don't think I've ever encountered one that I didn't like! So when I found a recipe for a black bean soup, I immediately wanted to try it.  Beans are good for you, and cheap, so how bad could it be?  

This recipe did not disappoint, and it is now on the regular rotation for The Mr. and I.

Source:  Cooking Light, March 2009

Ingredients:

1 lb. dry black beans
4 c. chicken broth
1 c. water
2 c. onions (but I only had about 1 cup available)
1 jalapeno-- ribbed, seeded, and minced (This was my first time cooking with a fresh jalapeno, so I had to learn how to work with the pepper. I found this website that was very helpful.)
3 bay leaves
1 T. cumin
1 T. lime juice
1 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 c. fresh cilantro, chopped
3 T. sour cream
Cilantro sprigs, optional

Directions:

Soak the beans overnight in bowl of water.  To do this, cover the beans so that the water is at least 2 inches higher than the beans. Let soak overnight (8 hours) Drain when ready to use.

In a CrockPot, combine beans, water, broth, bay leaves, cumin, onion, and jalapeno.  Cook on LOW for 10 hours.

After cooking all day, add lime juice, salt, and chopped cilantro. (Before serving, I pureed the soup using an immersion blender to make it creamier, even though the original recipe did not call for this.)

Serve with sour cream and hot sauce, and garnish with sprigs of cilantro.

Verdict:

It's a keeper!  I'm glad I pureed it a bit, because I really liked the creamy texture.  

Chicken Noodle Soup

So now that I had all this homemade stock at my disposal, I figured it was time to make chicken noodle soup.  Since The Mr. was still recovering from oral surgery, what a better way to help him feel better than a warm bowl of the universal elixir. 


After searching around, this recipe from Elly over at "ellysaysopa.com" sounded the most appealling and looked exactly as I hoped it would.  And by the way, if you haven't had the pleasure of browsing her blog, you need to make a point of it.  If the photography alone isn't enough to pull you in, I don't know what is!  She has fantastic advice and information; moreover, most of her dishes having intriguing and/or healthy ingredients (of which I am still learning to identify and pronounce! :)) Honesly, reading her recipes makes me want to be Greek.  But enough of my gushing, and on to the real reason you're here:  chicken noodle soup.


Quite simply, this soup will be a staple in our household forever.  That's right.  For-ev-er.  I never knew how good soup could be; but now that I have crossed over to the other side, I will never enjoy soup from a can quite as much as I used to.


Source:   based entirely on Elly's Chicken Noodle Soup (with very minor adjustments)


Ingredients:


2T. butter
1 onion, diced
4-5 carrots, sliced
4-5 celery stalks, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
12 c. chicken broth-- if you're feeling adventurous and want to make your own, click here to see how I did it the first time
4 c. cooked chicken
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp. marjoram
1 tsp. thyme
1 T. dried parsley
2 cubes of chicken bouillon
1/4 tsp. ground pepper
2 c. uncooked egg noodles


Directions:


Melt the butter in a large dutch oven.  Add onions and cook for several minutes over medium-high heat.  Add celery and carrots, cook for another couple of minutes.  Add garlic.  Stir and saute for one or two more minutes.


It looks like this when I cook it:

Then, add chicken, broth, bay leaf, marjoram, thyme, parsley, and pepper.  Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.  Simmer lightly for 30 minutes. 


Add noodles and simmer till cooked (about 8-11 minutes)


Verdict:  Awesome.  It's the only chicken noodle soup I'll ever make!

... and it's so photogenic! :)  

Homemade Chicken Stock

I did it.

Ever since being bitten by the food bug, I have been wondering how difficult it would be to make my own stock.  Or broth.  Whatever you want to call it, I wanted to make it.  I wanted to make it so bad that I started saving my veggie scraps in a freezer bag.  Celery tops and ends, carrot peels, carrot ends, the green stems of green onions and leeks, green pepper ends-- just about anything was fair game to be saved in the Veggie Scrap Bag.  I even forced myself to save the carcass of a roast chicken in a freezer bag, too.  "This is what good cooks do," I told myself.  "This will help us save a ton of money when I go to make a soup again," I continued.   

But I was scared.

Looking back, hearing (er, I mean, seeing) myself say those words sounds ridiculous.  Literally, it was as easy as throwing a bunch of saved-up kitchen scraps, adding water, and boiling the b'jesus out of it for several hours.  Researching the various methods of making your own stock led me to believe that it would not only be time-consuming, but "involved."   I read articles that mentioned unfamiliar items like "cheesecloth," and shuddered.  I'm such a sissy when it comes to trying something new!  My Mom would attribute this anxiety to my life-long affliction of perfectionism-on-the-first-try syndrome.  She's probably right. 

But yesterday, I decided enough was enough.  The Mr. was having oral surgery-- and post-surgical care included a liquid diet for the rest of the day after being released.  This was the push I needed to venture into unknown cooking land.  I couldn't, in good conscience, just warm up a can of chicken broth for him to eat when I had been learning so much about homemade stock. 

So without further ado, I did it.   It was time-consuming, but it wasn't even a little-bit tricky or involved.  I have no formal recipe to share-- more like a list of ingredients; vague, coresponding amounts; and the steps I took.  But I have to tell you (like all the others told me), there's really not a whole lot to it.  If I can do it using scraps and absolutely no experience, ANYONE can do it. 

Ingredients:

• the carcass of a roasted chicken--Using a piece of advice from my Step-Mom, I broke the bones of the chicken carcass in half. Doing this exposes the marrow, which is where all the good stuff hides.
• a Veggie Scrap Bag-- this is a gallon-sized plastic zipper bag, and it was full
• 6 quarts of cold water
• Salt (maybe 1 tsp?)
• Pepper (maybe 1/2 tsp?)
• Dried herbs-- several shakes of each, enough to cover the top of the water.
• Parsley
• Sage
• Thyme
• 3-4 chicken bouillon cubes

Directions:

First, I thawed my Veggie Scrap Bag and chicken bones.

Next, I broke up the bones a little bit from the chicken scraps. 

Then I tossed the bones, veggie scraps, water, salt, pepper, herbs, and bouillon into a big stock pot (mine is a 10-quart stock pot, and there was plenty of room).

Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.  Simmer this way (uncovered) for at least 2 hours.  As you check on it, remove any fats/foamy gunk that forms on the top by skimming with a spoon.  Some recipes will tell you to simmer for up to 24 hours.  I don't have that kind of patience, and as I was impatiently waiting for my own stock, I noticed after 2 hours it started to taste more like a stock and less like herb-flavored water.

Here was the hardest part, and probably the part that has the most variety when reading other recipes--after you have simmered to satisfaction,  you have to strain it:

• To do this, I placed my large collander into my Dutch oven.  In the beginning, I ladled out the bigger chunks into the collander, and eventually poured the stock through the collander. I drained it and threw away the scraps. 

• Then, to get some of the smaller scraps/particles, I poured the stock through a wire-mesh strainer and back into the stock pot.

 

• At this point, I felt victorious.  Because not only did it SMELL like stock, but it TASTED like it, too!  I loved it and I poured a bowl of it for The Mr.

 
He wasn't much for talking-- what with the surgery and all-- but all I heard from the living room was the scrape of spoon against bowl.   That was enough for me. 

Bean and Ham Soup

For the longest time, I would walk by the bags of dried beans in the grocery store, wondering what it would be like to cook with them.  It's only been within the last year and a half that I conquered my fear of "real rice," and since the real rice is located right next to the dried beans, they've become next on the list of items to conquer.

Once I found an excuse to buy a bag of beans, I was then introduced to another decision-- the "quick-soak method" or the "overnight soak method."  In my soul, I have always felt that good things are worth waiting for; as a result, I chose to let the beans soak for 8 hours during the day.  (It's been my experience that whenever I choose to do a "quick method" of anything, it ends up being a bad decision.) Being that it was a snow day, it gave me something productive to do while I watched the snow plows do their work. It also gave me good excuse to keep peeking in the kitchen to see if the beans were doing anything in that big bowl of water.  I felt like a kid waiting for sea-monkeys to hatch!

Save yourself the suspense-- they don't do a whole lot :)

This soup made the house smell fantastic, and I'm anxious to share it with family members-- because like so many of my recent recipes, this made enough to feed a small army!

Ingredients:

2 carrots, sliced
2 celery stalks, chopped
1/2 c. onion, chopped
1/2 tsp. minced garlic
2 T. butter
12 c. water (Yes, this is a lot of water, but don't be alarmed-- it will boil down and thicken considerably)
1 ham hock
1 lb. dried Great Northern beans, presoaked and rinsed
1 tsp. mustard powder
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
2 bay leaves
2 c. chopped ham (I used a one-pound package of the pre-cooked, cubed ham)

Directions:

1. Saute carrots, celery, onion, and garlic in a soup pot till onion is clear (I used my trusty cast-iron Dutch oven)

2.  Add water, beans, mustard powder, salt, pepper, bay leaves, and ham hock.  Bring to a boil.

3.  Reduce heat and simmer for 60 minutes. (I did not cover the pot, because I wanted it to boil down a bit.  Next time, I might cover it for part of the cooking time, just to see how it affects the consistency.)

4.  Remove bone, add chopped ham.  Simmer another 30 minutes.

Verdict: Keeper
I want to see what other cubed/chopped ham options are available to me, because that was the one aspect I felt lacked a little flavor.

CrockPot Potato Soup

You know what's great about winter?  Snow.  Lots and lots of snow. 

You know what's better than snow?  The Snow Days we get off of school because of it!

While it wasn't a surprise, it's always great to get that phone call early in the morning.  The downside of this morning's phone call was that I couldn't get back to sleep...  so, I decided to be a little domestic diva today and try making something I've never made before:  Potato Soup. 

Which brings me to a topic I've never encountered until today-- potato soup vs. cream of potato soup.  Till today, it had never occurred to me that there was a difference between these two.  Sure, I've heard people say both names, but I just figured it was laziness-- I figured when a person said "potato soup," they were shortening the name of "cream of potato." 

Apparently, there is a difference.  According to one of my friends, one is brothy-based, and one is cream-based.  Now that I know this difference, I'm not sure if what I made today is actually "Potato Soup."  It has broth in it, but... it's pretty damn creamy, too (how could it not be creamy with sour cream and evaporated milk?)  Maybe I could compromise and call it "Creamy Potato Soup." 

Regardless, it was good-- good enough for The Mr. to get a second helping.  So, I'll make it again someday... whatever it's called.

Ingredients:

5-6 potatos, peeled and cubed

1 onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 stalks celery

3 cans chicken broth

1 tsp. salt

1/4 black pepper

1 can of evaporated milk

3 T. flour, divided

1 c. sour cream

1 tsp. dried oregano

2 T. chives, dried and snipped

Directions:

Place potatoes, onion, garlic, celery, broth, salt and pepper in CrockPot.  Cook on LOW till potatoes are tender (about 6-8 hours).

Once potatoes are tender, coarsely mash them with a masher.


After mashing, combine evaporated milk and 2 T. flour in a separate bowl and mix well.  Stir into CrockPot mix and cook on HIGH for 20-30 minutes. 

Place sour cream in small bowl and mix with 1 T. flour; add some of the hot soup liquid; stir well with wire whisk to blend. Gently stir into crockpot along with oregano and chives, and cook on high for 20 minutes longer.

Garnish with shredded cheddar cheese.

Serves 8-10

Verdict: Needs revision

2T of chives might have been too much. I don't know if "chivey" is a word, but that's what I used to describe this soup.  Next time, I'll cut it back to 1 T. of chives.

Also, I'd like it to be a little smoother than it was-- I don't know what I'll do to achieve this goal, but it's worth pursuing.  

Beef Barley Soup

This was my first soup.

Ever.
After receiving a cast iron Dutch oven as a wedding gift (which, by the way, I had no idea I even needed till I asked some experienced cooks) I was on the hunt for a good winter soup-- you know, something that I could cook on a Sunday while I was busy with homework and household chores. Cooking Light had a recipe that sounded most like what I wanted, but I added some more liquid to get a good, brothy soup instead of a stew. Also, since I'm too cheap to spend money on stew meat, I used center cut beef shanks, trimming beforehand and cutting into bite-sized pieces towards the end.
Honestly, I cannot tell you how excited I was to have this turn out so great on the first try! My husband had never tried beef barley soup before, so it was important to me that this one made a good impression. This recipe is definitely a keeper.

Ingredients:

2 Beef Shanks (about 2 lbs. total)

2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil

2 cups chopped leek (about 4 medium leeks)

2 cups chopped carrot

4 cloves garlic, minced

3 cups water

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

4 bay leaves

2 32oz. cartons beef broth

1 cup uncooked pearl barley


Heat a large Dutch oven on medium-high heat. Add the oil.
While the oil is warming, trim any fat from the beef shanks. After trimming, brown the shanks on both sides. Remove from the pan.
Add the leeks, carrots, and garlic and saute till lightly browned. (You may need to add a little extra oil) Return the shanks to the pan, along with the water, salt, thyme, pepper, bay leaves, and beef broth.
Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce the heat, and simmer for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, or until meat begins to fall from the bone.
When meat is cooked through, remove from pan and cut into bite-sized pieces. Replace meat into the pan. Add barley, and simmer for 30-40 minutes (or till the barley is tender).
Remove bay leaves, serve, and enjoy!

Verdict: KeeperDirections: