Purple Vegetable Soup

Last week we experienced what I hope was our last cold streak. It went from being in the mid 80's to a high of 45 degrees in twenty four hours. The result of this--besides a stuffed nose--was me craving some hearty vegetable soup. So Brian and I went to the co-op, bought a bunch of veggies, I browsed numerous soup/stock recipes, and this is what I came up with. The purple carrots made it very purple, but oh so delicious.


Purple Vegetable Soup (makes 10 servings)

You'll need:
6 purple carrots
1/2 onion
4 cloves of garlic
8 stalks of celery
5 red potatoes
2 cups of peas
a handful of each of the following (soaked overnight)
red lentils
green lentils
white beans
kidney beans
black beans
pinto beans
2 cup vegetable stock
half a bottle of beer (or wine if you're so inclined)
1 tbsp olive oil
water

Cut up the carrots, celery and onion, and saute it with the crushed garlic cloves in olive oil in the bottom of your soup pot. Once everything begins to soften, add the beer and turn it down low. Let it simmer for like 45 minutes.

Drain the water from your beans, and boil them in fresh water until soft (about 45 minutes). Then drain the water and add them with the stock to the soup pot. Chop and add your potatoes. Add a little water to cover everything, and whatever spices you like, and add the peas. Then bring it to a boil, turn down the stove and let the soup simmer until the potatoes are soft. Don't serve it too hot or it masks the flavors.

A word of caution: this makes a lot of soup. It barely fit in my huge Le Creuset pot. But it's so good we've gone through it amazingly fast. In fact for dinner tonight we should finish it up. Enjoy!

You're my blue sky, you're my sunny day

Because it was 80 degrees and sunny today, and my sauerkraut was ready, Brian and I decided to cook "brats" on the grill. While we're not huge fans of "vegetables masquerading as meat", we do occasionally eat them--for several reasons. I'll admit it's nice sometimes, especially during large family functions, to just lay low and eat something that looks like what everyone else is eating. I get tired of the horrified looks on peoples faces when they realize I don't eat dairy or meat or eggs, and the questions we have to answer. And sometimes I miss the familiarity and comfort of the food I was raised on (my Dad was a brat loving man).

So tonight we grilled up some fake hot dogs and brats, along with my homemade sauerkraut and some onions. The sauerkraut smelled awful when I first opened the jar and all the gas escaped. And then it bubbled up a really pretty purplish pink for a minute. But once it settled down and I got my courage up to try it, it was delicious! Mixed with onions, grilled, and used to top my fake hot dog--it was the best.

So yay for Meghan and her blog. I think I'm going to try sprouting next, since Wheatsville didn't have my favorite sprouts this week.

Here is the sauerkraut and onions grilling:


And here is the rest of my yummy sauerkraut:

Sauerkraut and Laundry

So yesterday was the type of Texas day that I love. Mid-February, 70 degrees and wind blowing like crazy. I love the wind here, it never blew like it does here when I lived in the Midwest unless it was storming. Sunday was our crazy cleaning day. We went to not just one, but two concerts this weekend, and so Sunday was our back to reality day. I spent a lot of it doing laundry, which I actually love. Not so much the washing part, but the drying part. There is something about hanging your clothes on a line in the wind that is immensely satisfying. And the line dried smell is *wonderful*, breezy peppered with a dash of campfire.

Then early in the morning we got some much needed rain. I woke to the sound and wished I could just curl up in bed all day.

When I got home from work, we had to run to the store for soap, and I took it as an opportunity to buy some supplies and try a recipe I have been thinking about for a while. I love reading "Making Love In The Kitchen", not only because Meghan is adorable, but because I've learned some cool stuff from her blogs and videos. Her ketchup and blueberry jam recipes are on my list to try, but since cabbage is in season I decided to try her sauerkraut tonight. The recipe was relatively simple, and I totally enjoyed massaging my cabbage to get the juices flowing. It's now sitting on my fridge waiting for the three days to pass so that I can eat it. Here are some pictures (sorry for the terribly quality, my camera is still broken so currently I'm using Brian's cell phone for picture taking):





Mmmmm! Can't wait. It was good when I was eating it off my hands after all the massaging, so it should be amazing in a few days time. If you're looking for a fun and easy recipe to try, this one fits the bill, and right now in Texas it's in season too!