Winter is coming....

In the famous words of the Starks "Winter is coming."

The mornings are becoming frigid... as are the nights. This morning in particular is a cold and rainy Sunday. Leo has refused to get out of bed, even to eat breakfast!

The weather leaves me craving warmer and often more hearty foods.

As you may know (or have noticed) I like all of my foods mixed together-- I tend to disgust those people who enjoy their foods neatly separated on their plates. Thus, one bowl wonders, like soup, tend to fit the bill for me!

Last night I decided to make a Kale soup. I tend to look at recipes, but then I am always too impatient to go shopping for ingredients/ I like to improvise so I used the basis of Rachael Ray's Chourico an Kale soup 

My version wound up something like this:

Kale and Italian Sausage Soup: 


* 1 Tablespoon olive oil
* 2 medium onions, chopped
* 2 white potatoes, chopped (I left the skin on, feel free to peel if you prefer).
* 8 cloves of garlic, diced
* 1.5 quarts chicken broth
* 1 -20 oz bag of frozen chopped kale (fresh would be ideal but..)
* 1 pound italian sausage (I used sweet, but hot would also be delicious), cut into bite sized chucks
* 1 carrot
* kernels from 1 ear of corn
* 1 cup frozen peas
* 1 can (~14.5 oz) of pinto beans
* 1 can (14.5 oz)  diced tomatoes
* 2 bay leaves
* black pepper

1. In a large pot or crockpot, saute chopped onions and potatoes in olive oil until tender.  
2. If using fresh kale add this in to the pot, and with bay leaves and garlic. If using frozen just add in the ba leaves and garlic. 
3. In a large pot or crock pot add in everything else. 
4. I simmered mine on low over night. If you are in more of a time crunch cook at a rolling boil and then cook at medium until potatoes are tender. 

Black Bean Soup

Going on with my bean theme, the other day I made some tasty Black Bean Soup!
I unfortunately packed it all up and froze it before thinking to take a picture, but it looks like a standard black bean soup. Low fat, high protein, high fiber, and no cholesterol :)

Black Bean Soup
1 pound dried black beans (or about 3 normal sized cans, preferably low sodium)
1 green pepper, diced
1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 TB olive oil
3 cups water
3 cups vegetable broth
Cumin
Oregano
Cayenne pepper
Black pepper
Thyme

If using dried black beans, soak them over night, then boil until tender.
In a pot, heat olive oil and add onion. Cook for about 3 minutes until becoming translucent. Add in peppers and garlic.
Once the vegetables are softened slightly, add beans, spices and water and broth.
Simmer.
Either using a potato masher, hand blender, food processor, or something else useful for squishing things, mash or blend some of the soup so as to mush up some of the black beans and create a thicker base.
The soup will thicken more and more as you let it simmer. Cover to reduce water loss.
Enjoy alone or topped with sour cream or chili peppers.

Beans, Beans, the magical fruit

Beans are an awesome food. They are high in fiber and protein, and low in fat. They are also ridiculously cheap and very diverse in regards to their culinary role.

So, why are beans so fabulous?

Well, as I mentioned: they are high in fiber, particularily soluble fiber, which means they help to absorb, and then eliminate cholesterol in your body. Thus, lowering your cholesterol and improving you heart health. Also, fiber makes foods more filling, so high fiber foods, like beans, keep you feeling fuller longer, so you are less likely to overeat later on.

Beans, being a plant based food, also contain lots of good phytochemicals and isoflavins, which are basically components of food that are not ESSENTIAL to life, but certainly improve ones health. Different kinds of beans are higher in certain isoflavins and phytochemicals than others, so like all foods, eat a variety! Phytoestrogens in soybeans are probably the most well studied, and have been shown to decrease risk of cancer. (lots of research also shows that eating foods simply made with soy components may not have the same benefit, so as usual, I support eating the whole food or lesser processed versions.- edamame, tofu versus soy protein isolate.)

Beans are also a great source of folate. Folate (aka folic acid, B9) is a nutrient that extremely important to DNA and cell growth and division. This is most noteable during fetal development. If a mother is folate deficient, the baby will be born with neural tube defects which generally result in death to the fetus, or severely mentally and physically disabled. In the Western world, most refined grains are fortified with folate, if you are watching your whole grain intake, you are probably eating a lot of unfortified foods, so watch out for your folate intake by increasing your bean consumption! (leafy greens are also a good source of folate as well.)

So go forth, and get down with your beany self.