The Great not so white soup

I am beginning to believe that I should form the discipline of ONLY using a strict recipe when making home made soup ! I can't help it- I start out with good intentions of making a small batch, and ultimately it becomes....

Soupzilla !!! Granted, it is filled with healthy ingredients that will freeze beautifully, but... I still have soup in my freezer and there may come the day when I will be making soup for one. I have to learn some control ! This batch started while we were in the grocery store and Nick found something called 15 bean soup mix. Ah, memories ! My mother in law used to make a batch of 15 bean soup every couple of weeks and give it out to family and friends. For a while before she go sick, she had a "thing" about feeding the world it seems. She would send over a big container of this soup and I would love it. Bob, who was terrified by too many batches of badly made great northern bean soup , refused to eat it. She stopped making it before Nick was born, and it just tickled me that he was so excited about this bean mix. Has to be genetic ! So I bought it and told him we would make healthy 15 bean soup. Start with the beans, which you soak overnight. Then you need to add 2 stalks of celery(chopped), then 3 carrots, sliced. Then onions- chop 2 of those and toss it in. Then some meat- chicken italian sausage will be nice ( she always made hers with smoked sausage) . Cut that pack up in coins. Then toss in a can of diced tomatoes. Then add some chicken stock- oh my ! The big crock pot is full ! Add 2 bay leaves and a tablespoon of basil . Let it cook on high for a few hours, then toss in a couple of handfuls of kale and the leftover barley pilaf from a few nights ago. Let it be till lunch , portion off some for lunch and then cool and freeze the rest
We had it with some must be used baby carrots and red pepper hummus. I forgo I had bought these a couple of weeks ago !

Much later in the day I tried a new veggie side recipe-golden spinach and sweet potato saute. The picture looked so good and the combo of spices sounded really interesting . We had this with pork chops and brown rice pilaf.


Golden Spinach and Sweet Potato Sauté

* 1 medium onion, chopped
* 4 medium cloves garlic, minced
* 1 cup + 1 TBS chicken or vegetable broth
* ½ tsp turmeric
* ½ tsp coriander
* ½ tsp cumin
* ¼ tsp cardamom
* 1 TBS fresh lemon juice
* 2 cups sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
* 6 oz frozen spinach, thawed

1. Chop onions and mince garlic and let sit for 5 minutes to bring out their health-promoting
benefits.
2. Heat 1 TBS broth in a large stainless steel skillet. Healthy Sauté onion in broth over medium heat for 5 minutes stirring frequently. Add garlic and continue to sauté for another minute.
3. Add seasonings and lemon juice and stir to mix thoroughly. Add broth and sweet potatoes. Simmer covered over low heat, stirring occasionally, until sweet potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes. Uncover to allow sauce to thicken and cook another couple minutes.
4. Press water out of spinach and add to sweet potatoes. Cook uncovered for a few more minutes to allow sauce to thicken.

The results ? Yummy ! For some reason the spice blend made the sweet potato taste more sweet and somewhat orangy. This one will definitely be made again !