Black-Eyed Pea Soup

Black-eyed pea soup. 

We, particularly Dan,  are not too fond of black-eyed peas, but we do like this black-eyed pea soup.  Usually on New Year's Day I make some recipe using black-eyed peas, but this year I didn't make the soup so I thought on this cold day it would be good.  This is so easy to make, and I happened to have the ingredients on hand.

Black-Eyed Pea Soup

Ingredients:
1/2 pound ground beef
1 cup diced onion (I used frozen diced onion.)
2 cups chicken or beef stock
1/2 cup water
2 (15 ounce) cans black-eyed peas drained and rinsed
1 (15 ounce can) diced tomatoes
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste (Optional: if you want a thinner soup you can omit this.)
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
3/4 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon salt ( I omit this because we try to limit our salt intake.)
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

Directions:
1.  In a large Dutch oven, cook the ground beef with the onion over medium heat until the beef is no longer pink, 10 to 12 minutes.

Ground beef and onion.

Cook until beef is no longer pink.

2.  Pour in the stock and water and stir in the remaining ingredients until thoroughly mixed.

Add chicken stock.

Add the drained and rinsed black-eyed peas.

Add all the remaining ingredients.  

3.  Bring the soup to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer, cover, and simmer for 45 minutes.

Simmer covered for 45 minutes. 

Ready to eat. 

Serves 4 to 6

We had this for lunch today with cheese toast.  This took about 15 minutes prep time and 1 hour cook time so it can be whipped up for a quick meal.

Turkey-Bacon Bean Soup

Turkey-bacon Bean Soup.

Yesterday was certainly a good day for soup.  It was rainy, windy and very cold.  So I made this Bean Soup using a recipe from Cooking at Home with Dan Eaton.


                                                           Turkey-Bacon Bean Soup
SERVES: 6-8
INGREDIENTS:
• 6 slices turkey bacon, diced
• 1 Tbs vegetable oil for crisping bacon
• 1 cup peeled, diced carrot
• 1 cup diced onion
• 1/2 cup diced celery
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 2 Tbs vegetable oil for cooking vegetables
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 3 drained 15-ounce cans white beans (such as navy or great Northern)
• 1/3 cup chopped green onion or rough parsley (optional)
• black pepper to taste (and salt if needed)

PROCEDURE:
1. Cut all the vegetables you need before heading to the stove and then add a splash of vegetable oil to a heavy bottomed soup pot and crisp up 6 diced slices of turkey bacon.
2. Take the crispy bacon out of the pan, add another splash of vegetable oil to the pot and add about 1 cup diced, peeled carrot, about 1 cup diced onion, 1/2 cup diced celery, 2 minced cloves of garlic and add a sprinkling of dried thyme.

Diced carrots, onions and celery.

Diced turkey bacon.

3. While you're keeping your eye on the vegetables and stirring them around occasionally, take a minute to drain three 15-ounce cans of navy beans.

Navy Beans.

Drain three cans of white beans.

4. Once the onions are translucent, add 4 cups chicken broth and add the drained white beans, stir those in, and bring it up to a simmer.

Add chicken stock.

5. Then adjust the heat on that so it's gently simmering along for 10 - 15 minutes.
6. At that point you could use a potato masher to gently mash the beans up a little bit, or use a hand blender to give it a somewhat smooth, somewhat chunky consistency.

Fold in bacon.

7. Then fold in the crispy bacon and an optional handful of chopped green onion and season it to taste with a little salt if it needs it and a good crack of black pepper and it's good to go.

Fold in green onions.

Ready to eat.

This was most welcome on a cold day like yesterday. 

It's Soup Weather

Senate White Bean Soup.

Fall brings these cool, cloudy days like the one we are having today.  That just reminds me that it's time to make some soup.  Senate Bean Soup is a favorite at our house and that's what I made today. This soup dates back to the early 20th century according to Wikipedia. "U.S. Senate Bean Soup or simply Senate bean soup is a soup made with navy beans, ham hocks, and sometimes mashed potatoes. It is served in the dining room of the United States Senate every day, in a tradition that dates to the early 20th century". (Well, I wonder if it is served during the government shutdown.  Are the cooks on furlough????)

I use a slightly different recipe omitting the mashed potatoes and adding carrots, celery, a potato, onions and garlic.  
 

Senate Bean Soup

Serves 4 to 6

1 pound dried small white beans, rinsed and picked over for stones

12 cups water

1 ham hock

1 bay leaf

2 cups chopped onion

1 cup chopped celery

1 cup shopped carrot

1 potato, peeled and chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

Salt and pepper

1/4 cup chopped parsley

Soak beans in a large bowl.  Cover beans with water and soak for 8-10 hours (overnight) and drain.

Alternatively, place beans in a large pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and tightly cover pan with plastic wrap. Let beans sit for an hour.

Beans and ham hock in Dutch oven.

Stir in 12 cups of water.

In a large heavy pot, combine beans with ham hock, bay leaf (I didn't have a bay leaf today, but I usually do have.) and 12 cups of water. Bring to boil and reduce heat and simmer for 1 hour or until beans are just tender.

Add onions and garlic.

Add potato, celery, and carrots.

Stir in onion, celery, carrot, potato and garlic. Simmer for another hour or until soup is

very  thick. Remove ham hock and strip meat from bone, discarding the rind and fat. I usually puree about 2 cups of the soup and add it back to the pot.  Stir meat into soup and season with salt and pepper. Garnish with parsley (Optional)  Serve hot.  

Ready to eat on a cool, cloudy, rainy day.

This soup is perfect for a cloudy and chilly day like today.  And it freezes well. We enjoyed this for supper tonight, and  I have enough for a couple more meals. 

Lentil Soup: A Favorite in the Palmer-Livingstone Kitchen

Bowl of delicious and nutritious lentil soup served with slice of buttered sunflower bread.

Now that the days are getting cooler, I begin to think about making soups of various kinds.  One of our favorites is lentil soup, so easy to make and so economical and very nutritious. I tend to make soup in big batches even though there are just two of us for most meals, because I can then freeze small portions and have them ready for a quick lunch or dinner.

Ingredients simple and inexpensive:  lentils, carrots, garlic, smoked ham hock, salt, pepper.

Rinse the lentils.  I use the whole package. Dice a couple of carrots and prepare two or three cloves of garlic. To these ingredients add 8 cups of water. (If I have chicken stock, I use half chicken stock and half water.)  I usually toss in a smoked ham hock for flavor.Salt & pepper to taste.

Rinse the lentils. 

Add diced carrots, ham hock, cloves of garlic.

Add 8 cups of water, or 4 cups chicken stock and 4 cups of water.

Bring the ingredients to a boil.  Lower the temperature, cover and simmer for about 35 minutes.

Cover and simmer.

This recipe makes 8 large servings.  I freeze, in small containers, all but two servings, and we have a quick lunch ready in a moments notice.  So good on cool fall days or even better on cold winter evenings.