Minestrone Soup

After a very long hiatus, I've decided to start blogging my food adventures again. It may not be every week but at least when I make something that stands out to me, I'll post it here. Yesterday I made minestrone soup for our community group with church. People asked for the recipe which inspired me to just post it. Enjoy! (PS, it was even better the next day!)

Minestrone Soup, serves 6 as a main dish (with some good sourdough bread on the side!)

1½ cups dried great northern beans, soaked at least 4 hours
2 Tbs olive oil
1 large onion, finely diced
6 carrots, sliced or diced
3 celery stalks, chopped
1 bunch chard, leaves separated from stems and chopped 
3 garlic cloves, minced
28 oz can diced tomatoes in juice
½ tsp dried rosemary
5 cups chicken broth
5 cups water
1 oz piece of parmesan rind
 kosher salt and pepper to taste

Place soaked beans in large soup pot, cover well with water and boil until tender, about 1 hour. Drain beans and set aside. Rinse soup pot and return to stove. Add oil and heat through. Saute onion, carrots, celery and chard stems only about 10 mins or until beginning to soften. Add garlic and saute another minute. Add tomatoes with juice, rosemary, broth and water. Heat to boiling and then reduce heat and simmer, covered, until veggies are tender, about 30 mins. Add parmesan rind, chard leaves, reserved beans and salt and pepper to taste and cook another 10 minutes or until chard is soft. Mash up some of the beans on the bottom with a potato masher or immersion blender. Stir well, taste for seasoning, and serve with some crusty sourdough bread.

(You can add bacon, potatoes and/or zucchini to this soup as well. Add bacon first, then use a slotted spoon to take it out after it's crispy and reserve until the end. Add potatoes w/the carrots and onion and add zucchini with the chard leaves).

Summertime Quinoa Salad

This was a "clean out the fridge" lunch that turned out so fresh and delicious I had to post it here! Super versatile so you could add or omit as desired.

Summertime Quinoa Salad, serves 1

approx. 1/4 cup cooked quinoa (use up some leftovers)
1 stalk celery, sliced
1 small tomato, diced
1 green onion, sliced
1/2 carrot, sliced
1/2 avocado, diced
1/4 jalapeno, thinly sliced (more or less depending on heat desired)
juice of 1/2 lime
EVOO
sea salt
fresh cracked black pepper
dulse flakes
cumin
1 hard boiled egg, chopped

Toss the quinoa with the veggies. Squeeze half a lime over. Drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with sea salt, cracked pepper, dulse flakes and cumin to taste. Toss gently to combine. Top with chopped hard-boiled egg. Enjoy!

Broccoli Chowder

This makes a surprisingly hearty lunch or dinner. Double the recipe if you want leftovers!

Broccoli Chowder Recipe, serves 4 as a side dish or 2 adults and 2 small kids as a main course
3 strips bacon, diced
2 Tbs butter
1 small onion, diced
2 large garlic cloves, smashed
½ tsp celery seed
2 Tbs tapioca starch (can use all-purpose flour)
2 cups low sodium chicken stock
2 cup milk
4 small red potatoes, cut into large dice
½ head broccoli, chopped into florets
1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and chopped
sea salt and cracked pepper
sliced avocado and crushed red pepper flakes for serving

Heat dutch oven over medium heat. When hot, add bacon and cook until crisp. Reduce heat to low, add butter, onion, garlic and celery seed. Cook until onion is softening. Add tapioca starch and stir. Add chicken stock and milk and bring to simmer. Add potatoes and cook 10 minutes. Add broccoli, bell pepper and salt and pepper to taste. Cook until potatoes and broccoli are tender, about 20 mins more. Serve with crushed red pepper flakes on top and a slice of avocado if desired.

Polenta with Roasted Tomatoes and Swiss Chard

This recipe is adapted from Food Network Magazine's Great Easy Meals. This makes a great lunch or a light dinner. Polenta is coarse cornmeal. I generally use Bob's Red Mill brand.

Polenta with Roasted Tomatoes and Swiss Chard Recipe, serves 4
28 oz can plum tomatoes, drained, or 2 cups cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
1 Tbs EVOO
sea salt
1 cup polenta
5 cups water
fresh ground pepper
1 bunch Swiss chard
4 Tbs butter
Feta or goat cheese, for topping
crushed red pepper flakes, optional

Preheat oven to 450ºF. Toss tomatoes, EVOO and 1/4 tsp salt in large ovenproof skillet. Cook until tomatoes are beginning to caramelize, about a half hour. Turn oven down to 300ºF but keep tomatoes in until needed later.

Meanwhile, boil water in medium sauce pot. Slowly whisk in polenta. Stir constantly until mixture boils. Turn heat down to low and simmer, stirring frequently, until thickened and creamy. Stir in salt and pepper to taste.

Meanwhile, prepare chard: cut leaves from stems and roughly chop. Keep the stems and slice into 1/2" pieces. Remove tomatoes from oven and place over medium heat on stovetop. Add butter to skillet and swirl to coat. Add chard stems and cook until almost tender, about 5 mins. Add leaves and sauté just until wilted.

Divide polenta between 4 bowls. Top with tomato/chard mixture. Sprinkle cheese over the top and season with salt, pepper and crushed red pepper flakes, if desired.