Eat,Sleep,Garden

Better than Bouillon/ Easy Creamy White Bean Soup with Kale

jessicarafter — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 01:14:21 +0000

It was about this time last year when I was lamenting over how labor intensive making your own broths are. There are great advantages to making your broth, they are rich in nutrients and is very cost effective, not mention you can’t beat meaningful work. But let’s be honest there isn’t always the time or storage for self made broth. This is where Better than Bouillon comes it, as a paste like substance stored in the refrigerator, that not so magically turns into soup base. You simply mix one teaspoon of base with 8 ounces of boiling water and voila you have broth. It has a much richer flavor than regular bouillon and comes in an organic variety. It’s also a little more flexible than bouillon and you can add it into different types of dishes, but I have yet to be this industrious.

Easy Creamy White Bean Soup with Kale

Ingredients

-Half an Onion

- Salt and Pepper

-3 cups of chicken stock

-Pound of Beans

-Bunch of organic Kale

-A little bit of Olive oil

-2 cups of heavy cream

I’ve been using dried beans lately. I’ve starting to steer away from canned foods, as there has been some evidence that the BPA in the can liners leaches into food. I figure why chance it. So if you are using dried beans you will need to soak your beans ahead of time.

-Cut up and sautee onion in a little olive oil, salt, and pepper, until onion is translucent.

- Add in Beans and chicken broth, then simmer for about 30 minutes. If your beans are crunchy you can simmer at a higher temp.

-Add in cream, and bring back to a simmer. Be careful not to boil it or your cream will no longer look appetizing.

- Add in Kale and simmer for another 10 minutes.

Variations

-This is a pretty basic soup so you could add in any vegetables you like.

- For a vegan version you can cut out the cream,swap the chicken for vegetable stock, and after the 30 minute simmer run the soup through a food processor for a creamy soup.You may want to add in your favorite spices because this soup is so simple the cream adds a lot of flavor.

-You can also add sausage or root vegetables for a heartier soup.

-If you like things spicy you can add in some red pepper

Indoor Hammocks

jessicarafter — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 16:38:10 +0000

So I finally bought a house, which means I will finally have a yard, a proper garden, and a place to use my awesome outdoor hammock. But the internet reminded this morning that hammocks are not restricted to outdoor use, but have plenty of function inside as well. They offer a nice casual design touch and a way to bring the outdoors in. Free the hammocks from their restrictive paradigm!?

What do you think?

Via Le Beanock

Via Dwell

Also this:

From Pet Lounge Studios

Brothers from Other Mothers

jessicarafter — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 20:56:26 +0000

Wonderful assortment of potatoes from the CSA. Not to mention blue potatoes are full of anti oxidants!

Easy Kohlrabi Coleslaw

jessicarafter — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 22:37:38 +0000

Ok, so I was procrastinating on posting this and then my dad got into a car accident, so it turned into less procrastination and more life is crazy. But even if kohlrabi is going out of season in my zone, it may still be around in some of our friends in northern cooler climates.

Super Easy Kohlrabi Slaw

1 peeled kohlrabi( be sure to do this I learned the hard way and my slaw tasted like I processed a few toothpicks
4 or 5 small radishes
1/4 cup of onion
Mayo to taste
3 tablespoons of vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste

Shreds it all in a food processor and then mix in mayo in vinegar. Each ingredient can be adjusted to taste, I like less onion and mayo but you all may like a little more

Ninth CSA pickup

jessicarafter — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 06:34:41 +0000

Yum,so much food!

This week I got:
1 bunch of kale
1bag of green beans
1 bunch of basil
3 potatoes
2 cucumbers
2 zucchini
1 squash
11 medium carrots

Kohlrabi Lies

jessicarafter — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 22:09:32 +0000

The thing about eating your way through a CSA is that sometimes you have to eat ridiculous things. You at first want to be an adult and think oh I have such diverse taste and I’m so cultured, blah blah blah. This logic is how you somehow get convinced to try things like sweetbreads which is usually the Thymus gland! Don’t be fooled sometimes you just have to say yuck.

In any case I think it’s this high cultured adulthood that people are missing something because I am convinced that Kohlrabi, despite making tasty cole slaw( a post for later) is really a malevolent space creature. How does no one see this!

Seventh CSA Pickup

jessicarafter — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 22:29:26 +0000

Eeeek, I skipped another week. I want summer to be all about lazily sipping adult beverages on the veranda of my plantation home. However I don’t own a plantation home, have rich southern relatives, and my job seems to be sucking my soul. All just one giant excuse to say I’m having trouble keeping up with my life.

This week we got a beautifully diverse haul from our Firsthand Farmer’s Cooperative CSA

4 Squash Zuchini

1 Head of Cabbage

1 Bunch of Swiss Chard

1 Bag of mixed salad greens

3 onions

1 clove of garlic

1 basket of blueberries

Thomas Jefferson Center for Historical Plants

jessicarafter — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 14:52:28 +0000

I realized as I was trying to organize my photos that I forgot to share my visit to the Thomas Jefferson Center for Historical Plants. So here they are , I believe it was late april or early may.

Fifth CSA pickup

jessicarafter — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 15:43:56 +0000

So I missed last weeks CSA pickup photos, but sometimes it’s really hard to get photos of things before they get into my mouth! Anyway this week we got yet more variety.

1 Bag of Peas

1 Bunch of Garlic Scapes

1 Bunch of Broccoli

1 Bunch of Beets

1 Bunch of Red Onions

2 Heads of Lettuce (one red , one green)

Third CSA of the Season !

jessicarafter — Fri, 20 May 2011 15:36:04 +0000

We are finally getting some color(other than green this week.) Also the things that I thought were spinach were actually Kale! Love the CSA for this reason, learning about new food all the time. Thanks Firsthand Farmer’s Cooperative.

This week included:

1 pint Strawberries

1 Bag of Mixed Salad

1 Bunch of Radishes

1 Bunch of Green Onions

1 Bunch of Garlic Tops

1 Bunch of Russian Kale