CSA cooking: bean and kale soup and salad

basket inventory: parsley, basil, cilantro, spring onions, chard, 2 different kinds of lettuce, persimmons, zucchini, eggplant, arugula, limes, chives

this week was the first time i started to feel Summer leaving and Fall arriving. i started to wear leggings under my house dress and i don't leave the kitchen windows open the whole day like i used to.what a perfect way to celebrate the coming of cold weather by making a soup.

Bean and Kale soup:

• 1-2 onions, chopped
• 1 head onion, chopped
• 4-8 cloves of garlic, depending on how much you like garlic
• 4-5 cups of veg stock
• 1-2 cans of white beans (you can make your own but do you really want to do that for 1-2 cups of beans?)-just make sure they are done before you add them in
  
• 1 can 24 oz chopped tomatoes (but if you have whole canned tomatoes or even pureed if you want/have them), just remember that you will be eating them in soup so chop them if they are large pieces
• 1 large head of kale chopped
• salt/pepper, herbs
• crusty bread and parm cheese (optional)

you can make your broth from scratch (or use an animal-based product), but if you don't have the time i must suggest that you invest in a jar of Better Than Bouillon, this is a tiny jar packed with pots of stock and takes about 2 seconds to make and takes up about 2 inches of your fridge.

pour a few tbsp of olive oil into a soup pot, add the onions and garlic (if you want it chunkier, add celery or carrots!). cook for a few minutes or until tender. add broth and canned tomatoes, parsley, beans and s & p. simmer for 10-20 min. taste and adjust seasoning. add kale last few minutes.
garnish with fresh parsley, bread chunks, more raw kale or cheese or just leave it how it is.

Simple Salad:

this is actually something i make all the time, tonight i wanted something cool with the hot soup and just used what we had from the basket.

• various chopped or torn salad greens including kale, chard in = amounts or less than the salad greens
• various fresh herbs- we used the rest of the parsley, chives, spring onions
• dressing made from: lime juice from last week, balsamic vinegar (or any one that you like), s & p, mustard powder, garlic. shake in a jar and taste until you like it.

i must say of the 3 people eating, this was almost completely gone, the only thing left was 2 servings of soup which we will have for b-fast tomorrow-enjoy!

(the finished meal, right before Top Chef!)