Three Bean Soup

In my quest for meatless meals I came up with this. I was rummaging through the food storage, fridge and my neighbors garden to come up with the ingredients. I found some kidney beans and northern beans in the food storage, that reminded me of the green beans in the garden and that's where I got my idea. A three bean soup! I started with some celery and onion I had in the fridge. Half an onion and two celery stocks. I sauteed them in some olive oil and thought I might as well add some garlic so I did. While I was in the garden picking the green beans I found some carrots too, so I added a carrot to the saute as well. After they started getting tender I added two cans of vegetable broth, a can of kidney beans, a can of northern beans, and a can of stewed tomatoes. At this point I thought Oh no. All I could taste was the stewed tomatoes. Then I started adding some herbs. My mother in law bought me some Bouquets Garnis from The Spice Hunter. It's a combination of herbs in a little ball you can add to soups it was the trick plus a little extra basil and the green beans and some yellow summer squash just because I had it and it looked pretty in the soup. I let the soup simmer until the vegetables were tender but not mushy and served it with the Cheddar Garlic biscuits from Bisquick.

1 half onion
2 celery stocks
1 carrot
1 yellow summer squash
2 handfuls of fresh green beans
1 can kidney beans
1 can northern beans
1 can stewed tomatoes
2 cans vegetable broth
1/2 can of water
1 tsp dried or fresh Basil
1 Bouquets Garnis

Sweet Potato French Fries!

Two or three large Sweet Potatoes

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Seasoning Salt

Rather simple really. Spread oil over a cookie sheet, just enough to cover the pan, cut your potatoes like fries and then toss them on the pan and mix them around a bit. Then bake at 400 until they start to turn golden brow. Yes that's another problem with me I don't measure or time:) Sorry. When you pull them out sprinkle on some seasoning salt. I heard on a cooking show it's best to do it right out of the oven. They were making potato chips but I think it still applies here.

Our meal for the night.

Fruit Salad Yummy Yummy

I threw together this yummy salad they other night. I think we all liked it, even with that weird green stuff.

1 bag baby spinach leaves

1 large peach

a handful of strawberries

and a few blueberries

topped off with Brianna's Poppy Seed Dressing

They say it's delicious on peaches and it is!

Veretarian Spinach Pasta

I threw together a yummy dinner tonight. Can't say the kids liked it, it had some strange green substance that they didn't agree with. However, it was completely healthy! Ingredients included:
Olive oil
Minced garlic
Pine nuts
Canned artichoke hearts
Frozen Spinach
Basil
Salt and pepper
and your favorite Pasta
I tried to combine the healthy stuff with something they really liked but it didn't go over so well. Oh well. I liked it.
I started my water to boil my noddles and then I got to work on the rest of my creation. I started by digging through my cupboards to see what we had and found these yummy ingredients!I started with a little extra virgin olive oil and then added my minced garlic, after a few I added the pine nuts! After they we nice and toasty I added the artichoke hearts and the spinach. After it was warmed through I decided it needed a little basil and some salt and pepper, and a little more olive oil for good measure. Then I let it sit on warm until my pasta was just right. Then I mixed it together and I got this!
It took more time to boil the pasta then it did to dig through my cupboards and come up with what I was going to put with it! Perfect a meal in under 15 min!