A Deliciously Healthy Soup & Challenge

Beautiful soup so rich and green, waiting in a hot tureen! ~Lewis Carroll, 'Alice In Wonderland'


Well, I might not actually have had a 'hot tureen' full of green soup...but I did have a nice big pot of it, and with the New Year calling out for healthier fare after all the sugar indulging during the holidays, and our weather deciding to take a very chilly turn this past week, it seemed a most appropriate, warming, and welcoming dish to cook up!



Wintry weather and soup go together so beautifully, don't they?

Well this particular soup is one that I've been making for many years, it's extremely delicious, extremely healthy, and it's from one of my all time favorite cookbooks...'The New Basics'. I'm sure many of you know of it, but if perchance you don't, then please do check it out, it's as much a pleasure to read as it is to cook from...one of the absolute best!

Broccoli Spinach Soup:
Peel and chop 2 pounds of broccoli, set aside. Melt 1/2 stick butter in 5 qt. soup pot, add onion, leeks, carrot, and garlic, and a little salt and pepper. Saute until soft, about 10 minutes. Add chicken stock, broccoli, tomatoes, and parsley. Bring to boil and simmer for about 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, add one 10oz package baby spinach to the soup (much easier than using bunched spinach and having to clean it)...we've also used swiss chard in place of the spinach (very good)...which *is* bought bunched. Stir in cardamom, fresh grated nutmeg, and more salt & pepper. Cook one more minute, remove from heat, and allow to cool slightly.

Puree soup in food processor or blender (careful there), return to pot, add the juice of one lemon...and my own personal touch if you like, some crushed dried tarragon, and a teeniest pinch of cayenne. Then...enjoy!

Here I've paired the soup with a turkey, cheddar, and apple sandwich on whole grain bread...so good! And speaking of bread...here comes the 'challenge' part of the post.

My new blogging friend Karianne, of Thistlewood Farm, is hosting an 'Imagine The Impossibilities' challenge, where you pick something that has been a nagging impossibility for you in the past...and tackle it head on! Well it turned out that Karianne's most challenging-challenge was the same one that I've been agonizing over for years...baking homemade bread. So I've decided to make Williams-Sonoma's No Knead Rosemary Lemon Bread for my challenge, as I've heard many good things about the 'no knead' method, and think it might be a good way for Dry Active Yeast and I to get reacquainted!

I have absolutely no issues with baking pies, cakes, cookies, muffins, cobblers, crisps, tarts, and all other manner of baked goods you could possibly think of...but anything with live yeast...no thank you! My one attempt produced rock hard lumps of what was supposed to be soft and chewy cinnamon rolls...and after that, I swore off yeast baked goods for ever, although secretly, I've been wanting to try using the little buggers (the yeast) again for years, and thanks to Karianne...now seems to be the perfect time to give it a go.

So, my trusty little Le Creuset pot and I are going to attempt to make the Rosemary Lemon Bread this week...and no matter what happens, I'll be sharing the results with you all (dear oh dear).

Those of you that have made No Knead Bread before (such as Jacqueline of Beauty In The Ordinary, who has made a different version of it and loves it) please feel free to share any little nuggets of wisdom you've learned about the process...and most of all...please, please, please...wish me and my little yellow pot luck!