15 Bean and Greens Soup

What are you doing today, first weekend of a new year and all.

Me, I am doing what I do every weekend. Clean and make soup! And a few stupid annoying things that I won’t get into…( I hate having to deal with phone shit!)

Anyway lets talk about soup, the best food in the world. You might not think that yourself, and that is just fine, but me, I could, and do, eat soup just about every day (seriously, and I have years of blogging to prove it). It is just so good, well, most soups. Some soups are not good and that is when I do not eat them and nor should you.

This soup just so happens to be a good New Years omen.. Someone just told me beans and greens are good luck to eat at the beginning of a new year so I guess we are in luck. But tell me this, shouldn't I be freaking winning lotteries and shit with the amount of beans and greens I eat all year long? I mean seriously. But back to this soup. A basic 15 bean (or however many types of beans) soup situation. Cooked with a few but delicious veggies, some good spices, a little tomato, and served up whenever it is done and whenever you feel like eating it. A great soup to pop onto the stove, blast the tunes, get into a cleaning grove and basically ignore, and come back to it whenever you are feeling hungry. I mean, what better then to finish off a crazy deep clean and organize of all the closets plus wiping down every single surface in the house (including all the baseboard and window trim) and scrubbing toilets, then with a big ass bowl of warm beans and greens soup. This. This is a good day to me. And don’t say that you wouldn't love it too…but in case you wouldn’t don’t at me and you do you.

Now to the lucky beans and greens soup and maybe some New Years cleaning (or however you want to send your time!)

The stuff. A 15 bean mixture that has been soaking in water overnight, tomato puree, a carrot and and onion, parsnip and celeriac, a couple cloves of garlic, a bunch of collard greens, spices (cumin, paprika, chili powder, red pepper, oregano, and ginger), apple cider vinegar, and salt and pepper.

Basically the only work needed done, to dice it all up. Small dice the onion, carrot, parsnip and celeriac, mince the garlic, and then thinly shill up the collard greens.

Toss it all into a big pot with the spices and a cup or so of water and place on medium heat to start to cook.

Once veggies have become fragrant and are slightly tender, dump in the soaked beans!

Add water and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce to a medium heat and pop a lid on it. Let cook for about an hour.

And once the beans become tender, dump in the vinegar and tomato puree. Mix it all up, add another cup or so water, and keep in cooking

Soup, with all the beans, DONE. And so so good.

And basically you jest serve it up whenever you want and eat it. Bread makes a great accompaniment.

Happy New Year!

-C

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15 Bean and Greens Soup

• 2 cups dried bean mixture (can use any number of bean mixture that you want) that has been soaking for a least a few hours but overnight is good

• 2 teaspoons cumin

• 1 teaspoon each paprika, chili powder, ginger, oregano

• 1/2 teaspoon chili flakes

• a medium onion

• 2-3 cloves garlic

• 2 1/2-3 cups total of small diced carrot, celeriac, and or parsnip

• a small bunch of collard greens (or kale)

• 1 1/2 cups tomato puree

• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

• salt and pepper

• 7-9 cups water

Start by small dicing up the onion, mincing that garlic, and small dicing up the carrot, celeriac, and parsnip. Dump it all into a large heavy bottom pot along with about a cup of water and all the spiced. Cut the collard greens into thin strips and toss those in too. Put on stove on medium heat and cook for 7-10 minutes or until it comes fragrant and the veggies seems to be tender. Dump in presoaked beans and 6-7 cups water (make sure beans are fully submerged) and bring whole pot to a boil. Once boiling, reduce to a medium heat and place cover on pot. Cook for an hour or so and then add in the tomato puree and vinegar. Add in another cup or two of water and cook for another 1/2 hour to 45 minutes (longer if you want. You can cook and set on simmer and leave on stove for a few hours. Just add more water when needed and stir occasionally) or until all the beans are tender and completely cooked. Season with salt and pepper and then serve.

Left overs should be stored in fridge for a week or so or can be frozen for a few months.

Split Peas and Collard Greens with Mustardy Cabbage Slaw

Spit peas are one of my go to’s when camping. Besides taking up no room at all to pack, they are also super easy to make. Plus they only take about an hour to cook, which is the perfect amount of time to prepare the rest of the food for a meal and sit and chill out before eating. Not to mention that they are damn freaking tasty, especially after a day frolicking through woods and paddling on water. I mean, who doesn’t like split peas? (If you say you don’t, you probably should try again because I bet you would like these)

Constnaly thinking of our next hiking, kayaking, and camping adventure has got me with split peas on the mind. Especially now that the nights are getting a little cooler. Knowing that I am gonna have a hearty, protein pack and filling meal after a day of activity is just the greatest.

And collard greens. A green that gets overlooked a lot. No super popular, well, not around these parts, which is crazy because they are SO good! They have a more pronounced flavor (in a good way) then most greens. More pungent and earthy, and slitghy salty, if that makes sense. And hold up better then any green when cooked making them perfect to toss into pots with things like spit peas . Plus they travel well. I can bring a bunch camping with me and not worry that if I leave them out for to long they will turn into slimy green mush. If it is really hot, sure they might wilt up a bit, but stick the stems in a little water, they will last all day fine. And that is all you need them to do.

So yeah, this dish is perfect for camping, but also perfect for not camping and just making at home too. Again, super easy, fast and is just a great tasting dish.

Split peas and collard greens. Topped off with mustardy cabbage slaw. Can’t wait to make this again this weekend!

To the spit pas and collard greens!

The stuff. A bunch of collard greens, some split peas, an onion, a couple carrots, some cabbage, stone ground mustard, spices which include garlic, ginger, dill, thyme, and ground mustard. And salt and pepper. And you are gonna need water too.

Start by removing the stems from the leaves of the collards. Then small dice up the carrots, the onion and the stems. Grab the collard leaves, roll them up together, then slice then into thin ribbons.

All that stuff you just cut up now gets tossed into big pot, along with all the spices.

Add in the dried peas and water. Lots and lots of water. Bring pot to boil, then reduce heat to low and loosely cover pot. Cook foe 45-50 minutes or so.

While the peas and greens are cooking, shred up some cabbage.

Add a good dollop or two of some good stone ground or Dijon mustard and mix.

Cooked until the split peas are tender and starting to fall apart. Taste and season with salt and pepper.

And then you eat. A big bowl full of the slpit peas and greens, topped with some mustardy cabbage slaw.

This is good food. Really freaking good.

-C

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Split Peas and Collard Greens with Mustardy Cabbage Slaw

serves 4-6 folks

• 2 cups dried split peas

• 8-9 cups water

• 1 large onion

• 2 carrots

• 1 bunch collard greens (about 6-7large leaves)

• 1 teaspoon garlic powder

• 1 teaspoon ginger powder

• 1 tablespoon dill

• 1 tablespoon thyme

• 1 teaspoon ground mustard

• salt and pepper

• 2-3 tabespppms Dijon or stone ground mustard

• 1/2 head of cabbage (red and or green)

Start by removing the stems from the collards. Grab the carrots and onion and dice them up small, along with the stems. Then take the leaves of the greens and stack and roll them up together. Slice the roll into thin ribbons. Place all of it, carrots onions stems, and greens, into large pot, along with all the spices, (don’t add any salt until the end) and stick o the stove. Add in the split peas and 8 cups of water. Bring pot to a boil, then reduce to low and place a loose lid on pot. Let cook for 45 minutes to an hour, or until the spit peas are tender and just about to fall apart. If you think you might need to add more water to cook the peas through, then add another cup.

Once cooked, season with salt pepper to taste.

For the cabbage slaw,which you can make right after your start the peas, just shred up cabbage and mix it together with the mustard and set aside.

And once the split peas and collard greens are all cooked, scoop into bowls, top with some of the cabbage slaw, and eat to your face.