Cannellini Bean and Kale Soup

Another winner from Abundant Harvest Organics. Too bad I just canceled my weekly delivery with them. A 30 minute round trip visit on a Saturday morning with just a 30 minute window to arrive at the truck was just not working for us every week as a family. Soooo I found Farm Fresh To You and am hoping to get their weekly deliveries to my doorstep starting next week. BUT I will gladly keep my door open to Abundant Harvest if they ever have a delivery site closer to home.

ANYWaaaaay... to quote my husband while he was dishing his second bowl, "You've outdone yourself! This soup is Rockin'. And this is HEALTHY for you??? Seriously, this is right up there with your Wedding Soup. I don't know how you do it." =)

Serve with Garlic Toast ... slice toast and butter. Sprinkle with garlic salt and dried parsley. Heat in the oven at 450 for a few minutes until lightly browned. Mmmmm mmm ... that makes goooooood dipping toast.

Cannellini Bean and Kale Soup

• 1 ½ Tbsp olive oil
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 1 medium carrot, peeled & finely chopped
• 1 medium celery stalk
  
• 1 leek finely chopped
• 1 ½ tsp rosemary
• 2 Tbsp tomato paste
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 quart vegetable broth
• 2 15 oz cans cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 bunch kale, center ribs removed, and leaves chopped
• 1 ½ tsp cider vinegar
• ½ lb Italian sausage, cut into bite size pieces (optional)

Heat 1 Tbsp of oil in pot over medium heat. Add the onion, carrot, celery or leek, and rosemary and cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables begin to soften. Add tomato paste and garlic and cook until fragrant. Add the broth, beans, kale. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium low, and simmer gently until vegetables are tender. Heat remaining oil in pan with Italian sausage. When browned and cooked through add to soup, stir the cider vinegar into the soup and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Potato and Cauliflower Casserole

Weeeeell, my husband wanted Steak and Potatoes tonight. And we recently watched Food Inc. This was sort of the nail in the coffin after other books and movies we've read/seen about the food industry. Sooooo we bought Organic grass-fed cow tonight. The last steak I bought on New Year's Eve was on sale for $1.49 per pound. This was $14.99 per pound. Ouch. Buuuut, it was delicious. A few years ago I tried wild-Salmon and now I have a hard time swallowing farm-raised. Soooo, is this the end of us eating beef most nights out of the week? And the end of our cheap beef love-affair? Time will tell. (I will also add that after we visited the Temple this week we did stop off at McDonald's for a reminder taste of our "Naive" to the food industry days, when we used to stop off there every Thursday night after working at the Temple 9 years ago.

So to embellish our new love of grass-fed cow, I cooked up my ginormous cauliflower that came in my locally-grown organic vegetable delivery. Thanks to Abundant Harvest, I found a new casserole recipe that well, at least the adults enjoyed (my daughter enjoyed it, and the other were alriiiight with it.) I'll be making this again soon ... since I still have 2 heads worth of cauliflower left on my one ginormous head.

POTATO and CAULIFLOWER CASSEROLE

2 large potatoes, peeled and quartered
3 Tbsp better
1 cup heavy cream
salt and pepper to taste

1 head of cauliflower (or one quarter in my case)
3 tbsp flour
1 cup shredded Swiss cheese (but the good stuff)

Lightly grease a medium casserole dish and preheat the oven to 450. Boil potatoes until tender but still firm. Drain and set aside. Place cauliflower in a steamer basket and steam for 5 minutes.

Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in the flour. Gradually stir in the heavy cream until thickened. Remove from heat and mix in 1/2 cup swiss cheese until melted. Season with salt and pepper.

Arrange potatoes and cauliflower in dish. Pour cream sauce over veggies and sprinkle with remaining Swiss cheese. Bake 20 minutes until it gets bubbly and lightly browned. The brown stuff is the gooooooood stuff.