Soul Cooking

Bread

It's amazing how baking bread can make a kitchen smell like home.  There's just something about fresh bread that makes everything seem right.  I've heard some real estate agents will even get the oven ready breads and bake them before showing houses to make them seem homier to the people who view them.  Genius, if you ask me!

Nothing says home to me like bread; when I first moved out I had just learned making bread in my parents' bread maker.  After moving out, I learned the simple pleasure of making bread by hand.  By the time we got our stand mixer a few months later, I had developed muscles I didn't know where there from kneading dough and had an entirely knew respect for those who made bread without machines.  I develop my dough in the stand mixer these days but I do the final knead by hand; it lets me know if I need to adjust the flour or water, and no matter how chaotic my life is kneading bread grounds me and gives me a sense of peace.

Yesterday was the first time I've made bread since we've moved and it was overdue.  I feel like my kitchen is finally broken in.  Not to mention the yeast so was spectacularly active I ended up with three loaves instead of the recipe promised two...no complaints here!

Soup

Today was rainy and dreary outside; I'm torn on the rain though.  I love rain, and it clears out the inversion (nothing quite like tasting your air...yuck); not to mention it wasn't snow, and after the feet upon feet of snow we've gotten this winter, I'm all for a break.  The catch is our new yard is no longer frozen, and we're finding mud patches as the snow melts...which the dog is fond of.

Anyway, in honor the weather and at the request of my main cooking audience, my wonderful hubby, I made bean and pasta soup.  This is a great soup to kill off the random little bits of uncooked pasta that are left; you know the ones where there's just enough you can't bear throwing them out, but not quite enough to actually be a serving?  It's also great for those bits of bacon that won't go very far on their own (four pieces for four people? If you're creative, yes!).

The soup in the recipe below make 8 servings.

Eat Happy!

Bean and Pasta Soup

1 cup bacon, raw and cut into small pieces
1 small onion
3-4 cloves garlic
4 stalks celery, chopped
salt
oregano, basil, onion/garlic powder (if not using fresh) to taste
2 cans great northern or cannelloni beans, rinsed
8 cups beef stock
3-4 springs thyme
1/3-1/2 cup pasta

1. Cook bacon in a stock pot until cooked through and starting to crisp.  Remove from pan and drain on paper towel.  Drain all but 1 tbs grease
2. Cook onion until fragrant; add garlic and celery.  Season with salt and saute until onions are transparent and the celery beings to soften
3. Add beans to the pan and mix well
4. Season with oregano, basil and onion/garlic powders if not using fresh
5. Add stock and sprigs of thyme
6. Bring stock to boil and add pasta
7. Simmer until pasta is cooked
8. Serve hot and garnished with Parmesan (or asiago, or goat cheese.....)