I Made Sourdough Bread!

I love baking. Love it. But like sewing zippers, I've been intimidated to make sourdough bread. I've made lots of other breads, just like I've sown lots of other products. But sourdough and zippers... Scary!

Well some sweet friends gave us some if their sourdough starter that's been alive for at least four generations, and sourdough bread became a little more doable.

While these friends were able to teach me how to care for this new child of ours, they did not have a bread recipe to walk me through {yes, I was looking for hand-holding} as they only make sourdough pancakes.

So, upon Googling {sorry Pinterest - not too many good looking recipes for this on ya} I discovered a fairly easy looking recipe.

And...

We'll have to wait until tomorrow night to find out how it tastes, but it sure looks good! If it tastes just as good, I'll share the recipe. :)

What's your favorite Sourdough Bread recipe?

.enjoy

molly

Two-Bean Soup with Greens, Rosemary, and Thyme

My husband laughs at me every time I take photos of my food, which is often, because I never actually take the time to share with you all of my delectable discoveries. Well, I'm trying to change that. This soup inspired me to change that. It's delicious!

Tasked to make soup for a school function, I found inspiration on none other than Pinterest, and took a liking to a "Creamy Two-Bean Soup with Spinach, Rosemary, and Thyme" {yes, yes, and yes, please!} by All Four Burners, a fun blog all about yummy food.

I made a few tweaks, as I do often, and then discovered a go-to soup that I foresee pleasing many o' belly in the near future...

First you chop up a bunch of shallots {I did eight large ones} and an onion, and saute them in olive oil in a medium-sized pot for about 15-20 minutes, until they are gorgeously golden. Then you add in some fresh rosemary and thyme {about 1 1/2 Tbsp each} that you've chopped nice and fine.

 
After all those flavors have been blended together for a minute or two, you add two cans of rinsed garbanzo beans, two cans of rinsed white beans, and five cups of low-sodium broth.

 
Bring that to a boil and then simmer it for at least 30 minutes, if not an hour or three. Pull out half the soup and puree it, then dump it back in with the rest of the soup. {The original recipe suggested pureeing the whole soup - thus the "creamy" soup - but mine had a hummus consistency and I liked the idea of seeing the whole beans and shallots/onions, so I only did half. If serving to my kids, I might puree the whole thing. They aren't bean fans, yet.}

Just before serving, add in 6 to 12 ounces of chopped baby spinach {organic if you can - it's on the FDA's Top 10} or any other wiltable {not a word, but it should be} green. Season with a good pinchful {am I just making up words right and left?!} or two of sea salt and fresh ground pepper, and a long drizzle of olive oil.
 

 
This picture makes it look like it has turmeric in it or something - not sure what happened there - but it doesn't. You could serve it with shaved Parmesan though.

So good. So. Good. Here are the specifics...

Two-Bean Soup with Greens, Rosemary, and Thyme
Servings: 6-8 

Ingredients: 

2 tablespoons + 4 Tbsp olive oil

1 1/2 cups chopped shallots 

1 large white onion, chopped

1 1/2-2 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary

1 1/2-2 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme

5 cups low-salt vegetable or chicken broth

2 15.5 ounce cans white beans, drained and rinsed

2 15.5 ounce cans garbanzo beans {chickpeas}, drained and rinsed

6 to 12 ounce {6-8 large handfuls} baby spinach leaves, beet green, chard, kale, etc.

Sea salt and pepper to taste

What to do:

Heat 2 Tbsp olive oil in medium pot over medium heat. Add shallots and onion and sauté until golden, about 15-20 minutes. Add rosemary and thyme; stir 1-2 minutes. Add broth and beans. Bring soup to boil; reduce and simmer for a minimum of 20 minutes, but up to 3 hours.

Pull out half the soup and puree until smooth. Return puree to the pot and stir in spinach/greens until wilted, about 1 minute. Season soup to taste with salt and pepper. Drizzle remaining olive oil over each individual serving.

Adapted from All Four Burners, who adapted it from Bon Appetit

enjoy.

molly

The Mighty Beet Smoothie

I've recently gotten "into" beets. My kids? Not so much. There's no way to "hide" beets, due to their vibrantly beautiful coloring, but there are ways to dress them up so they're irresistible.

Today we made a smoothie using beets. My son was resistant at first, but when he saw his little sister scarfing down her smoothie and asking for more, he couldn't help but be curious. Result: two happy kiddos with bellies full of mommy-pleasing foods.

Mighty Beet Smoothie
4-6 servings, depending on the belly size

1 cup plain Greek yogurt
1 cup non-fat milk, more if needed to make smoothie smooooth
1/4 cup flaxmeal {or Chia seeds}
1/2 cup frozen spinach
1-2 whole beets*

and then any combination of fruits you'd like. Today we did:

juice from 3 fresh oranges from our yard
2 cups mixed berries/fruit, frozen

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend away until you've reached your desired consistency. Then, drink up!

*How are the beets prepared? Cut off their root and tips {save the greens for sauteing as a side, putting in a pasta sauce, or mixed in with roasted vegetables}, cut in half, and place in Pyrex with a little water. Cover with foil and roast in oven for 25-30 minutes around 350F, until soft when tested with a fork. Keep covered but let cool slightly. Peel the skin off and quarter. At this point you can put them in the shake, freeze them for later, or warm up some oil and garlic in a pan and saute them for utter yumminess! 

My friend, Jessica, has a fantastic beet salad recipe using fresh orange juice and avocados. I'll have to get that for you.

How do you enjoy beets??

.molly