Happy Monday everyone!
I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. It was absolutely gorgeous here in Blacksburg–it definitely feels like fall with cold mornings and bright, sunny, warm afternoons. The fall low temperatures are definitely what my body thinks of as winter, though. I see some winter coat shopping in my future!
Virginia Tech also had their homecoming football game against Duke, so things were a little crazy around town. I still haven’t made it to a game, but I love watching all of the tailgating going on in every.single.parking lot as I go on my morning run. Hopefully next year I can join in the town spirit, but for now, I’m definitely having fun as an observer.
The beginning (or middle??) of fall is also exciting because it means the start of holiday magazines. I’ve decided to let most of my magazine subscriptions expire–no, not because I’m bored–but because I want to renew through iTunes and only get digital copies. I’ve always hated storing paper magazines. They just build up and take up space, but I never want to throw away my favorite editions. So digital copies are a life saver–easy saving! Although, I’ve recently run into the problem of lack of hard drive space on my iPad and had to “archive” past editions, but you can always access old editions that you’ve purchased.
Since I’ve obviously been struggling with finding time to cook lately, I was thrilled to find a collection of recipes based on a simple ol’ pot of beans in the November Martha Stewart magazine. It starts with cooking whatever type of beans you have–pinto, white, red..–with water, aromatics, and veggies you have on hand. We used pinto beans with sauteed onion and garlic and a little carrot. Simple, but it worked as a solid base.
Next, the recipes called for 3 different variations using the beans as a base: an indian spiced soup, bean and fish tacos, and beans/bacon/eggs on toast. This was definitely an idea I couldn’t resist!
Like usual, I forgot to soak the beans the night before, but I learned how to do a fast soak: cover the beans with about 3-4 inches of water, bring them to a boil, then turn off the heat and let them soak for about an hour. I kept the bean liquid too to use as a substitute broth instead of throwing it out, as well.
We decided to go with the Indian spiced soup first, using the spices we had on hand–new spices can definitely get expensive, so we try to substitute whenever possible or buy just 1 new spice every once and while to balance out our collection.
The spicy soup was perfect for the cool fall night–and great for kicking this cold I’ve been fighting!
Indian Bean Soup
adapted from Martha Stewart Magazine November 2012
Serves 4
Ingredients:
4 cups pre-cooked beans (we used pinto + onions, garlic, carrot, olive oil)
2 cups bean broth
1 cup chicken broth
2 thai chilis, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tablespoons ginger, grated
2 15oz can diced tomatoes, with juice
1/2 tablespoon sea salt
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon coriander, ground
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
olive oil
greek yogurt, for topping
corn tortillas, for for dipping
Steps:
Heat olive oil in a cast iron or soup pot.
Add onions and garlic and saute until aromatic and onions become translucent, stirring often,
Add beans, bean broth, and chicken broth and bring to a simmer, cooking about 10 minutes.
Mix in diced tomatoes, chilis, ginger, cumin, coriander, and cinnamon.
Add salt and pepper, and adjust to taste.
Top with greek yogurt and serve with tortillas on the side.
Enjoy!
Time: 20 minutes (with pre-cooked beans)
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
It’s definitely soup weather. I made two this weekend myself!
Loving the warm days and cool nights!