Tuscan White Bean & Spinach Soup

Still soup weather. It's snowing … again! Just made this for supper. It was fast and delicious!

Tuscan White Bean & Spinach Soup
Serves 8
The Ingredients: 
2 tsp olive oil
1 clove garlic, finely minced
1 medium onion, finely diced
2 - 32 oz. boxes low sodium chicken broth, or vegetable stock
2 cups water
14 1⁄2 oz can diced tomatoes
I also added 1 can Rotel tomatoes, HOT
2 - 14 1⁄2 oz cans cannellini beans or other white beans
1 cup whole wheat pasta shells, or shell pasta
2 tsp rosemary
Baby spinach, cleaned and trimmed
1⁄4 tsp black pepper
Shredded cheese for garnish

The Directions:
In a large soup pot, saute onion & garlic in olive oil.
Add broth, water, tomatoes, beans and rosemary to pot. Season with black pepper. Bring to boil.
Add pasta and cook 12 minutes. If the soup seems too thick for your liking add a bit more broth.
Add spinach and cook about 1 min, until wilted. Serve with shredded cheese.

Vegetarian Chili

This is a recipe I got from Cooking Light magazine. I took the basic recipe and tweaked it a little bit. Since my husband Tom likes hot, I added Tabasco sauce, pepper and diced green chilies. I also added Morning Star Farms Meal Starters. They look a lot like cooked, crumbled ground beef, and come frozen in a bag. I've never tried them before and I thought they added a lot of texture to the chili, as well as nutrition. Plus, they're much lower in fat and calories than ground beef. And, best of all, Tom couldn't tell the difference!
VEGETARIAN CHILI
INGREDIENTS:
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cups chopped onion
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 cups water
1 can vegetable broth
(or chicken broth, which makes this "Almost" Vegetarian Chili)
1 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. Tabasco
1/2 tsp. oregano
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 (14.5-ounce) cans diced tomatoes, undrained
1 (4 ounce) can hot diced green chilies
1 (15 1/2-ounce) can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), rinsed and drained
1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 (15-ounce) can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 (16-ounce) can cannellini beans or other white beans, rinsed and drained
1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste
1 (12 ounce) package Morning Star Farms Meal Starters
Reduced-fat shredded cheddar cheese
Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic; sauté 3 minutes or until tender. Add 3 cups water and next 12 ingredients (through cannellini beans), stirring to combine.
Combine chicken broth and tomato paste in a bowl, stirring with a whisk until blended. Stir tomato paste mixture into bean mixture. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Ladle soup into bowls. Top with cheese, if desired.

Katie's good cookin'!

This is another one of my daughter Katie's recipes from her favorite cookbook, The Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper by Lynne Rossetto Kasper and Sally Swift (Clarkson Potter Publishers, 2008).
Escarole simmered in good broth with a little wine, tomato, pasta and chickpeas is pure Italian comfort food! You can cook the soup a day ahead, up to adding the pasta. When you want to serve it, bring it to a simmer 10 minutes ahead and then add in the pasta.
SOUP WITH FRESH GREENS AND TINY PASTA
Serves 6 to 8 as a first course; 4 to 6 as a light main dish
Prep time 15 minutes; stove time 35 minutes.
INGREDIENTS:
8 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 cup whole canned tomatoes, crushed with your hands (do not use canned crushed tomatoes)
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1 medium to large onion, minced
1 15-ounce can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
2 large handfuls escarole or curly endive leaves, fine chopped (2-1/2 to 3 cups)
1/3 tight-packed cup fresh basil leaves, fine chopped
1/2 cup tiny pasta (alphabets, orzo or stars)
Salt and fresh-ground black pepper to taste
1 cup or more fresh-grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1. In a 6-quart pot combine the broth, wine, and tomatoes. Simmer uncovered 5 minutes. Add the garlic, onion, chickpeas, greens, and basil. Simmer partially covered 20 minutes.
2. Stir in the pasta and simmer, partially covered, 6 minutes or until pasta is tender. Taste soup for seasoning. Serve hot, passing the cheese to be sprinkled on the soup as its final seasoning.

My favorite soup recipe ...

You really have to try this soup recipe. It's chock full of great flavor and ingredients. We like it on the hot side, but you can make it as spicy as your family likes by adding or subtracting some of the spicier ingredients.

WHITE BEAN CHICKEN CHILI
4 (15 oz.) cans fat-free chicken broth
1 bag small carrots, sliced in thin rounds
1 medium chopped onion
2 teaspoons garlic powder (I use 2 garlic cloves, minced)
1 small can chopped green chilies
1 small can HOT chopped green chilies
1-1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon oregano
2 tsp. chili powder
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
2 Tbsp. parsley (use fresh if you have it)
1-3 dashes of Tabasco sauce (I use more)
3 boneless chicken breasts, baked, cooled, cubed
1 can whole kernel corn, drained
3 (15 oz.) cans great northern beans, drained

In a large pot, add first six ingredients. Cook until very hot. Add corn, beans, spices, and Tabasco sauce. Bring to a boil. Add chicken. Simmer 30 minutes. Serves 6. You may need to add more chicken broth.

Home-made chicken noodle soup ...

There's nothing better for your body or your soul than chicken soup from scratch, a proven cold, hangover and bad-mood-cure. It's soothing and comforting, something we all need when we're under the weather. I have to admit I always use chicken stock from a can, but at least I get the low sodium variety!

EASY CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP WITH VEGETABLES AND EGG NOODLES
Ingredients:
• 2 large cans low-sodium chicken broth
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
• carrots, thinly sliced
• celery, thinly sliced
• onion to taste
• 6 oz. uncooked egg noodles
• 3 cooked chicken breasts, cubed
• 1/2 tsp. dried leaf thyme
• chopped fresh parsley
• 1/4 tsp. poultry seasoning
• 1 bay leaf
Preparation:
Combine chicken broth, pepper, carrot, celery, onion, bay leaf, parsley and poultry seasoning in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil; add noodles and boil for 5 minutes. Add cooked chicken and boil for 5 to 10 minutes longer, or until noodles are tender. Remove bay leaf. Sprinkle with chopped fresh parsley just before serving. I suggest cooking the noodles separately and adding them to the soup just before serving.

Soup and Sammich!

WOO-HOO! Home-made Vegetable Soup with Ham, Melted Horseradish Cheddar & Sliced Red Onion on Toasted Caraway Rye Bread ... Yummy!

EASY VEGETABLE SOUP
INGREDIENTS:
2 14-1/2 oz cans chicken broth (low sodium)
1 16 oz can diced Italian-style tomatoes, including juice
1 can bean dark red kidney beans (drained & rinsed)
1 can black beans (drained & rinsed)
1 bag frozen mixed vegetables (to include any combination of carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, green beans)
1/4 cup dry whole-wheat couscous (optional) or 1/4 cup orzo (optional)
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. pepper
Top with shredded cheese.
DIRECTIONS:
Combine chicken broth, tomatoes with juice, rinsed beans, frozen vegetables, couscous or orzo, oregano & pepper. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer for at least 10 minutes.

Let's hear it for Sloppy Joes!!!

This recipe is from my friend Jan. It's awesome: freezes well and is easy to double or triple.
FAVORITE SLOPPY JOES
45 min | 15 min prep
SERVES 4
INGREDIENTS:
• 1 lb ground beef
• 3 stalks celery, chopped
• 1 green pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 1/4 cup barbecue sauce (your favorite)
• 1 tablespoon firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon dry mustard
• salt and pepper
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon vinegar
DIRECTIONS:
1. In a large skillet, brown ground beef, celery, green pepper and onion.
2. Drain the fat.
3. Stir in remaining ingredients, simmer covered, 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Cook until it's the consistency you like for serving on toasted buns, with chips and cole slaw.

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Beer and cheese fondue ...

Tom and I decided to make Beer-Cheese Fondue for dinner Sunday, instead of the Wine-Cheese Fondue we usually make. We did a bit of experimenting, and came up with a recipe that worked for us ...
BEER CHEESE FONDUE
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 c. beer (we used what we had on hand ... Harp)
2 c. (8 oz.) shredded Swiss cheese
1 c. (4 oz.) shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 Tbsp. flour
1 tsp. Worcestershire
1 tsp. dry mustard
1/8 tsp. black pepper
Dash cayenne pepper (optional)
Several shakes Tabasco sauce (optional
Add beer to fondue pot, heat slowly. Add minced garlic. Coat cheese with flour and add to beer. Stir in Worcestershire, dry mustard, black & red pepper and Tabasco sauce. Stir constantly until cheese is melted. Dip cubed French bread and sausage chunks in fondue. I added some dried parsley flakes to give the fondue a little color. Fresh parsley would also work ... This made enough for the two of us!!!