I love black bean soup, and this recipe loves me (and you) too with nutrient dense vegetables, lime, nutmeg, pepper and chili for a touch of heat. And of course black beans, a fiber-protein power combo. This recipe makes a flavorful thick soup perfect for a snowy day.
I live with an unapologetic carnivore, so the addition of uncured bacon (which at least eliminates nitrites) or turkey bacon vs going for a vegan version (my preference for mind and body) is always a weighty decision. For this go-round, as my husband and I have been doing some happy-lovely bonding lately, it’s bacon! I used 3 trimmed slices of Applegate naturals uncured Sunday bacon. This recipe would still be thick and flavorful in it’s vegan version if you skip the bacon and sauté the vegetables in olive oil. I also used Full Circle organic vegetable broth as I’m just getting into the soup swing and don’t have my own made yet.
All vegetables are organic – important for these particular veggies as several of them are on the dirty dozen list.
3slicesuncured bacon or turkey bacontrimmed of fat and sliced (optional - for a vegan version, sauté vegetables in 1 Tbsp olive oil over low heat)
4med stalks of celerytops on, chopped
4med carrotschopped
1red onionchopped
1/2spanish onionchopped
1 3/4cupsorganic black beanssoaked overnight, rinsed several times
2cupsvegetable stock
4-6cupsclean water
1cupfrozen organic corn
1small bunch fresh cilantro
1-2tspground nutmeg
1-2tspfresh ground black pepper
juice of 1/2 lime
chili pepper heat to taste - I used a Tbsp Sambal Oeleka Thai chili paste - make sure you get one without sulfites if you are sensitive
Instructions
Toss bacon into heavy soup pot, add onions, carrots, celery and simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until onions are soft and slightly golden - about 10 minutes. If you are skipping the bacon, sauté the above in a Tbsp of olive oil.
Add black beans, stock, nutmeg, black pepper and water. Simmer until beans are soft - 1-2 hours.
Add lime juice, corn and half of chopped cilantro.
Add chili to taste: add it slowly and taste until you reach desired heat. You can always make your soup more spicy, but once you overdo it, sorry you've got practice in tolerating extra heat.
Simmer all for another 10 minutes, top with remaining cilantro and enjoy warm.
Freezes well.
I would say the secret to this soup is the flavor combo of nutmeg, lime and chili – yum. What are your favorite ingredients for a black bean soup?
I’ve been a smidgen obsessed with elderberry this year and it has heard my prayer. Not only did my husband gift me a beautiful elderberry bush for our yard, but a neighbor with a gorgeous mature bush gave us the green light to enjoy some of his bounty. So, I’ve been up to my elbows in elderberry.
Most elderberry syrup recipes call for about 2/3 cup of berries for a season’s supply of syrup. Well, because I had a bucketful, mine is a little stronger! It’s delicious and rich. In the literature there are warnings about elderberry irritating the gut if taken raw and/or in excess, so you can overdo it! I intend to take 1 tsp daily for 3-5 days at the first sign of cold or flu.
Give yourself a couple of hours to make this start to finish. This recipe made about 6 cups of syrup.
Elderberry Syrup Recipe
Equipment
In addition to a large pot for cooking and processing, you will need a strainer or jelly bag, and containers for your syrup – I used jelly jars and processed them as if I were making jelly to give nicely sealed jars for gifts, and also kept a batch in a larger unsealed jar in the fridge to be used over the next 3 months by my family and me.
Jelly jars come with glass jars, a flat sealing lid, and a ring that twists over the sealing lid to keep it on the jar.
Ingredients
8 cups elderberry, washed and stems removed
4 cups water
1 Tbsp fresh ginger, peeled and sliced
5 whole cloves
1/2 tsp cinnamon, ground
1 cup honey
1-2 tsp pectin
Directions
Full bedlam-making elderberry syrup
Place berries, spices, ginger and honey in a large pot and bring to a rolling boil.
Stirring, add pectin and boil for another minute.
Lower heat to medium and simmer for 15-17 minutes.
Strain through jelly bag, and place into jars.
As I mentioned I used jelly jars and processed them like jelly, which entails boiling the jars (pouring hot liquid into a cold jar can make it crack) and sealing the lids. After filling the jars with syrup and topping with sealing lids, I tightened the lid rings and placed the jars upside down for about 5 minutes. This helped them seal. Once that’s done, I check to see if the jar sealed by pressing the center of the lid. If I can push the lid down and it pops up, no seal. If the lid is concave and pressing it doesn’t move it, it’s sealed. Often, lids will seal throughout the day – I can hear “pop” from the next room when a lid seals. Jars that don’t seal need to be refrigerated, and the syrup used within 3 months. I keep those that seal all season.
Making your own jelly and syrup can be a sticky mess, but I am always amazed by the wonderful smell, color, and flavor of homemade preserves. It’s a fun thing to do with family or friends who are into it. Little jars of your handcrafted goods make terrific gifts. Make sure not to give away unsealed items or you may be gifting a nice jar of something not-so-healing.
Pesto is a base recipe for food as medicine. The herbs you use for pesto are concentrated sources of health-enhancing nutrients. Through the seasons, you can make several batches for use on cooked vegetables, grains, really anything and everything.
Pesto is also a great recipe to begin exploring a little wild plant medicine.
When I speak of wild plants, I’m talking about plants you collect from your (unsprayed with chemicals!) lawn or the edge of a forest. I’m talking about dandelion greens, garlic mustard, mugwort and the like. Many of these wild plants are strongly flavored – I think of them as the wild game of the plant world – and just a little wild food does a human good. So, in pesto, I will mix familiar herbs like basil with a bit of the stronger wild stuff like dandelion or garlic mustard, depending upon what’s tender and not overwhelming (dandelions, for example, get more and more bitter as the season progresses).
Here is a base recipe for pesto I use and modify based on what’s available. Sometimes I use cheese, often not (I love to eat a lot of it, and cheese is not the most health-enhancing food for me, so I use just a smidgen). I can use creamy pine nuts, toasted walnuts, or sweet almonds depending on the herbs I have, the flavors I’d like to play with, and what I’m hankering for.
Here it is:
2 1/2cupsfresh leafy green herbsbasil, cilantro, thyme, parsley or your favorite
1/2cupwild savory herbsgarlic basil, dandelion
2garlic clovespeeled and center woody section removed
1/2cupnuts or seedspepitas, walnuts, almonds
1/2tspsalt
Instructions
Pour oil into a blender, add garlic, nuts, and herbs in thirds and blend to that lovely pesto loose paste-like consistency.
Add salt.
Notes
Classic pesto contains basil and pine nuts and a half-cup of Parmesan in the above recipe. Use your imagination and what you have on hand. Variations are endless!Remember, when it comes to wild food and botanical medicines – safety first!
You won’t find many beef recipes on my site, but my Asian Chili Beef is a good one! Red meat has been independently associated with an increased risk for cancer. But if you choose a clean high-quality beef, like grass-fed tenderloin, for an occasional meal, it is likely (though we don’t really know because the studies haven’t been done) that you’ll minimize your risk while benefiting from the nutrient-richness of beef.
The plants in this recipe – the cilantro, chili, onions, and coconut, all dance nicely with beef (in flavor and nutrition) in a sweet-and-spicy Asian flavor marinate that becomes a sauce. So, in these last chilly nights of late winter, as we wait for warmer months to come, here’s a way of having a rich and flavorful meal that is healthful too.
If this recipe appeals but beef is too rich for you, you can use the same marinade for tofu, fish, or chicken. These will all cook much faster, but will still give you the sweet-and-spicy Asian tang. Yum!
My Asian Chili Beef is a way of having a rich and flavorful meal that is healthful too. The plants in this recipe – the cilantro, chili, onions, and coconut all dance nicely with beef (in flavor and nutrition) in a sweet-and-spicy Asian flavor marinate that becomes a sauce.
Course Dinner, Lunch, Soup
Equipment
large (glass or metal) bowl
large skillet or wok
Ingredients
1poundtender high-quality beeflike tenderloin or filet mignon
1/2onionchopped
1cupfresh cilantrochopped
1-2tspThai red chili pastestart with less and turn up the heat as desired
1-inchpiece of fresh gingerpeeled and chopped
1large shallot
1garlic clove
1Tbsphoney
2Tbsptamari or Bragg’s
1Tbspcoconut oil
Instructions
Mix all ingredients except beef in a large (glass or metal) bowl. Slice beef into thin strips – about 1/4″ by 3″. Place beef slices into the marinade, and leave in the refrigerator (marinate!) for anywhere from one hour to overnight.
Heat coconut oil in a large skillet or wok, over high heat. Place beef slices into the wok/skillet and sear each side for 3-5 minutes. Pour remaining marinade into pan over beef, turn heat down to medium-high, allowing the marinade to thicken and coat the beef.
Serve with brown rice and a vegetable dish like my Asian slaw.
Just completed the first draft of a book proposal for easeful whole-food eating. YEAH! So, I’ve been reading the amazing food meisters around the net to hear the consensus for quick & easy weeknight dinners. I agree with what I found; two pans max, about 40 minutes of active work max (which does not include the time your sauce simmers away or time in the oven). Leftovers are good. Happy times, because that’s how I cook and I have a great Coconut Peanut Chicken with Sweet Potato recipe for you that fits the bill.
Here is a skillet chicken recipe that is just that: easy, one pan, really flavorful, and great leftovers. The sauce will be lovely over veggies and the chicken will be wonderful tomorrow if you can resist eating it all tonight.
This recipe serves 2, with leftover sauce
Here is a skillet chicken recipe that is just that: easy, one pan, really flavorful, and great leftovers. The sauce will be lovely over veggies and the chicken will be wonderful tomorrow if you can resist eating it all tonight.
This recipe serves 2, with leftover sauce
3Tbspfresh cilantro – stalksfor sauce plus a few whole sprigs for garnish
1/4cpeanut butter
1tsphot chili sauce
1sweet potato – peeled and cubed
Instructions
In a large skillet turned to high, add onions and sear the chicken thighs, skin-down first (to get some fat in the pan). About 10 minutes.
Turn down to medium-low, add sweet potato, cover and simmer 15 minutes.
In a blender, pour coconut milk, ginger, cilantro, and blend until smooth. Run through a sieve (to remove some of the ginger woody pulp) into a medium bowl, add peanut butter and chili sauce, and whisk until smooth.
Add sauce to skillet mixture and simmer another 15-20 minutes.
Top with springs of cilantro and enjoy.
Notes
My Coconut Peanut Chicken with Sweet Potato recipe is easy to expand; you can easily toss in 2 more chicken thighs, or another sweet potato, depending on what you want for leftovers and how many mouths you are feeding tonight. Or, just double the whole recipe. You’ll be getting into 2-pan territory if you do that unless you have a really large skillet.
For all my recipes, I suggest using the cleanest ingredients you can find and afford. So, grass-fed organic chicken (and other meats and eggs) is always best, and organic or bio-dynamic herbs and vegetables are best, though consulting the Environmental Working Group’s Clean 15/Dirty dozen list can be helpful if buying all organic will send you to the poor house (or make your house the poor house). Across the board, using ingredients in their whole form will usually give you the most nutrition. So, if you can grind your own peanut butter from organic peanuts, excellent. If you grow your own herbs, lovely. If not, just do the best you can and worry not about it. Every single ingredient has a whole-to-refined story (unfortunately), so it is hard to keep up. I do find that if you invest time and energy into eating a little cleaner and a little simpler, you will begin to see changes. Keep going!
Enjoy!
Annie
