Storms and Soups

Last week a late-Spring storm blew (literally) blew through. By Saturday, Monday's fresh new leaves were shriveled rags of brown. I stopped by a nursery (just to check out what they had, mind you) and the proprietress was apologizing for the state of the plants - desheveled and wind-whipped. My garden looked the same. The restorative power of Spring is amazing - by this Monday, new fresh green are reappearing and unfolding. God's creation is awesome.

We are part of a group that meets monthly for prayer. We gather for a soup dinner, then pray. It was my turn to host. This is not an original soup, but it is an outstanding soup!! It is not heavy, as the thickening comes from the pureed beans, not from cream or a white sauce.

Greens, Beans, and Sausage Soup
*12 oz Italian sausage, casings removed
3 large cloves garlic, minced
1 T rubbed dried sage
**3 (15.5 oz) can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
***Chicken broth
4 c water
1 c macaroni
1 (6 0z) bag baby spinache leaves, stems removed
1 T red wine vinegar
1/8 t salt
¼ t pepper
Grated pecorino romano cheese

Crumble the sausage into a cold pot. Cook over med heat, turning occasionally for about 3 minues, or until browned. Remove w/ a slotted spoon and set aside. Pour off and discard drippings. Add the garlic and sage.
Cook garlic and sage for about 1 minutes, until fragrant. Add rinsed, drained beans, the broth, and the water. Increase heat; bring to a boil. Scrape the browned bits off the bottom of the pot. Reduce heat to med-low; partially cover and simmer 15 minutes.
Transfer about half the beans and enough broth to cover to a blender. Puree and return to the pot. Add the macaroni and reserved sausage. Simmer about 5 minutes, until the pasta is ad dente. Stir in spinach, vinegar, salt and pepper. Sprinkle with cheese at the table.

Notes
*The soup is easily expandable. Could use between 6 – 18 oz or so of sausage. I used a spicy Italian sausage. Got rave reviews.
** I used Great Northern Beans as cannellini beans were not available
*** A total of about 45 oz broth. That would be about 5 ½ cups, if you’ve made your own. I used 2 qts commercial broth and a little less water.

It fed 6 adults very adequately. There was even enough for a few 3rds.

A New Year

Well, this blog was started last year...and nothing happened. Life got busy; I didn't sit down and journal. So, my lovely blog sat empy - gathering dust.



Well, this is a new year. Yeah, I know its April but we just held our Annual New Year's Day Open House with Wild Bill's Sourdough Waffles, so I can start this anew and afresh.



It's Springtime in NM and that means pollen. I suppose folks other places have pollen, but we usually just have dust. A friend commented one day that she could "smell the rain". New Mexico is a desert, so what you smell is usually just dust. Dust smells dry and dusty, but sometimes, sometimes you can actually smell the fragrance of spring, or an alfalfa field. However, pollen. Monday's mulberry pollen count was 18 - Medium. Tuesday's mulberry pollen count was 1000+ - that's Very High. Many had a scratchy throat and a rough voice. Today's mulberry was nearly 2000! My nose, my throat, my mouth, my eyes all itched. On the way into work I was fussing and said, "Lord, what You need to do is wash the air." The day got colder and greyer and by tonight a light rain was falling. I sang as I walked to my car, "He's gonna wash that pollen right out of the air." Thanks, Lord.