Wednesday, March 17, 2010

CSA Shares and Simple Navy Bean Soup


I just finished a wonderful lunch of left over navy bean soup that was whipped up yesterday and I'm still nibbling on the sweet and juicy pear from our last CSA box from Full Circle Farm.

And I'm mentally jumping for joy to hear that my sister in-law and brother in-law are signing up for a share from Full Circle Farm as well!

All this thinking about CSAs has me eagerly awaiting tomorrow's box.  I've been dreaming up what I will do with all that delicious produce since I finalized my selections this weekend.  I'm especially excited about getting a double order of eggplant this week - completely out of season, but something I've been craving for a few weeks now.  I want to make the simple oven roasted eggplant with anchovy that I found in my mother in-law's Silver Spoon cookbook and I want to try my hands at a recipe I came across online for eggplant "bacon" that gets marinated and then put on the dehydrator for a while.  It sounds very intriguing.  If I'm lucky enough to have any eggplant left (doubtful) I might make up a batch of Baba Ganoush to go with the Chipotle Garlic Hummus recipe I'm planning on making.  I found that recipe in the Tassajara Cookbook I've got checked out from the library (I really want a copy of this one for my collections!).  That would give us some good picnic foods for the weekend.  Something to take along for our outing to the Seattle Tilth Spring Plant Sale that we are going to with some friends.

For tonight though I'm roasting up some parsnips and cabbage for a veggie St. Patrick's Day dinner.  Yum!



Here's the Simple Navy Bean Soup recipe:

In the morning:

2 cups dry small white navy beans
8 cups water
1 Bay or Myrtle Leaf

Put all of the above in a slow cooker and cook for 6 hours on low setting.

When it's getting closer to dinner time:

2 carrots, sliced
2 stalks celery, diced
1-2 tsp earth balance or butter or olive oil

Saute all of the above in a large stock pot till slightly softened.  Add the beans and their broth, discarding the bay leaf.  Add smoked sea salt to taste (that's my secret ingredient!).  Bring to a simmer to blend flavors.  Right before serving stir in a 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley.

We served this with garlic bread  - the perfect thing to sop up the last of the bean broth in your bowl.  This soup tastes even better the next day!

4 comments:

Vegan Valerie said...

Wow, you made a cabbage meal too?! It seems a lot of others are doing the same. I must have missed the memo! I've got to get more into the holiday spirit! Oh and your soup picture is so beautiful! Great to talk to you again! :)

Trail (Oven Aversion) said...

Mmmm, the navy bean soup sounds good! It just gave me a great idea to try making a split pea soup in a slow cooker instead of on the stovetop. Somehow it seems like it would be creamer and richer that way. Let me know if you have any suggestions for it! (Like many other things, I've never even made split pea soup myself and I'm already planning to change it!)

Lili said...

Love navy beans and that's a great tip to use a slow cooker for them. Yum city! Oh I meant to tell you a friend of mine just made a x-country move from here to Seattle. She's in my sidebar under the blog Suspended Soul and she just arrived there on 3/17. [Oh dear, I'm thinking that's where you are, but if not, just ignore my ramblings!] Lili

Lili said...

Oh good! I just checked and you ARE in Seattle! Don't know what part of Seattle my friend is there, but I used to work with her when we both were in real estate here in Maine and she's a sweetie. ~Lili