On the Menu

I am basking in one week off of work right now, and am spending a lot of time reading and just plain relaxing! However, we do have to eat, and I am having some fun flexing my culinary muscles and not baking sweets for a change! Here is tonight's menu:

Whole Wheat Oat and Honey Bread:

and Tuscan Bean Soup, with red chard (or kale, depending on availability), and rosemary:

I'm telling you, the house smells fantastic! This is only my second time working with dried beans, and I have to say I am hooked! For some reason, I always pictured cooking with dried beans as this insanely labour-intensive process that was a total waste of time. But now that I know that it is actually very easy and (so!) cheap, I am an official convert! Not to mention the fact that by cooking with the dried variety, you are avoiding the horrible BPA lining on most tins (except Eden Organics, whom I love for not using any BPA in their bean products). This is for sure a healthy, frugal, and environmentally sound way of cooking. Beans are full of antioxidants, and are an excellent source of vegetarian protein. This soup is divine, nice and spicy and tomatoey, with a lovely crunch from the kale/red chard. It has rosemary and bay leaves, and uses no stock, only water, making it low in sodium, and allowing the natural flavors of the vegetables and spices to come through. The recipe is from the Rebar cookbook, which is a delightful vegetarian restaurant located in Victoria on Vancouver Island. I have only eaten at the restaurant once, and it was amazing, and the book is equally so. We have tried several recipes from it, and they just get better and better. The focaccia is to die for.  I highly recommend it for learning unique and delicious vegetarian recipes. Hope you all had a wonderful holiday, and are enjoying this quiet time afterwards!

Brenna

** just as a side note, I am not paid to endorse anything on this blog, I am simply sharing my opinions on some of my favorite things, such as cookbooks :)