It's hard to believe, but the spring semester is nearly halfway over! My grades are high, and everything is running smoothly. I wish time would just slow down so I could spend more time outside! But I'm still really enjoying my job and I'm getting plenty of hours so I don't have to fret about money. Last week I spent more than normal at the grocery store ($200, Ouch!) and spent a lot of time cooking. I made banana bread, cranberry-orange scones, broccoli calzones, two kinds of soup, and cornbread. Not all in one day of course!! One of the soups was surprisingly delicious and super healthy- black bean soup. I know, I know, it doesn't sound exciting. And it won't look exciting either, because it is brown soup. But trust me, it's so flavorful! The best thing about it is that it really only takes 15 minutes to fix, as long as you don't mind dirtying the blender. So here's the recipe:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Black-Bean-and-Salsa-Soup/Detail.aspx
I took the reveiwers' suggestions and added an extra can of beans and a can of corn to the soup towards the end to make it more chunky. The cumin is necessary but green onions are not. I hope someone tries it! I'm sharing the recipe for a reason :P
Since my last post.... we have been to Hapuna Beach one weekend. The waves weren't nearly as big this time but we still enjoyed boogie boarding. On Saturday I went to Onekahakaha Beach Park with Sydney and Brian to collect algae samples. Sydney has an algae project due in one of her classes that requires her to collect algae and press it so it. We waded along the tide pools and searched for unique algae. We had lots of luck! We also found sea cucumbers, sea urchins, and anemone. It's amazing what you can notice when you're really searching.
After that we had an intense four player game of Phase 10 and while I was close, I didn't win. I'll get 'em next time :P
Guess that's all for now. As soon as something exciting happens I'll let you know! Until then...
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You are simply amazing! Let me share another soup with you, possibly our favorite and, according to Bridget (who gets some each time she visits now), it is hers:
ReplyDeleteZappa Toscana (Italian Sausage soup)
one pound of hot (spicy) Italian sausage links
potatoes
kale
onion (scallion or whole as preferred)
bacon (don't skip on this)
garlic
salt and pepper
whole or crushed red pepper if you want to add
easiest way: bake potatoes and sausage links in oven (375 or so x about 20 minutes)..you can fry sausage and boil potatoes, but this is simpler
fry bacon until fairly crisp and set aside; in bacon drippings saute garlic cloves and onions until onions are nearly clear
cut up sausage and potatoes and put into LARGE pot (dutch oven?) and add about 8 cups water or enough to cover; stir in about 4 dissolved bullinon cubes (sometimes use chicken, sometimes beef) and bring to boil...simmer until potatoes are done and it is thickening then stir in about 8 ounces of cream (half and half or heavy cream); season to taste; chop up and add kale.
this is basic - you can improvise..can also just boil potatoes and then add bullion; can slice/dice up sausage links, brown with bacon, add onion, etc. and do all in two pots then combine..can use parsley instead of kale...
when serving, sprinkle fav cheese over top and viola - is awesome...can heat and season to your preference.
Enjoy!