Wednesday, June 2, 2010

White Bean with Spinach Soup (by Bethenny)



I'm not usually much of a soup person, but we spent this past weekend on Whidbey Island with weather like this:


...and came back to more rainy, gray drizzle and showers so I really felt like trying a new soup recipe. I recently bought Bethenny Frankel's The Skinnygirl Dish, so decided to try out the White Bean with Spinach Soup on page 116.

Here's my adaptation - I didn't quite follow instructions completely...
You need all this, plus an onion and a bay leaf:


1 tsp olive oil
1 yellow onion (I was out but luckily had some frozen chopped onion - good in a pinch!)
1 clove garlic
red bell pepper (Bethenny says use 1/2; I used a whole one)
4 cups vegetable broth
1 can of white beans, drained and rinsed
2 cups chopped fresh spinach
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Heat the olive oil and saute the onions, then garlic & red pepper:


Add the broth, white beans, spinach, bay leaf, salt & pepper, and simmer for about 20 minutes. At this point Bethenny instructs you to remove the bay leaf and the garlic... well, I couldn't find the bay leaf after everything had cooked down and I had minced the garlic... next time I'll probably just omit the bay leaf and use a little less garlic. (update: you don't want to eat a dried bay leaf - so make sure to pull it out before you blend this up! thanks to Diana Draw for the comment :) )


You then puree with an immersion blender, but I poured everything into my Cuisinart. It came out great and I'll make it again (with my two adjustments).


I love how Bethenny includes "use what you have" variations for her recipes - for this one she had five variation suggestions. I definitely look forward to trying many more recipes from this book.

Wow... Wednesday already... hope everyone is having a nice week. My Tory Burch Tevin Mini Bag arrived so review on that coming up soon!

xoxo

10 comments:

  1. Kale is a great substitute of spinach, if you want to try a variation!

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  2. Sounds good! I need to get more books so that I stop cooking the same 10 meals!

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  3. Looks delish...we are not that far from Whidbey...our weather was dreary and rainy...this rainforest we live in needs a shot of sun!
    Hope that you had fun on your getaway...

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  4. I love this recipe, thanks for sharing! Will definitely give it a try. And the bowls with butterflies are super cute!

    Look forward to read your review about the bag!

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  5. Natalie - thanks
    triciathomas - I wish I had 10 things I could make well!
    hostess - the weather must improve soon, right?
    Mona - thank you! The bowls are from Anthro. last year :)

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  6. Thanks for sharing this recipe, sounds delish!!

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  7. PLD - thanks for stopping by :) It was really good and obv. pretty healthy too

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  8. OH!
    GOtta make this!
    I need an immersion blender! So many things I need to use it with! I might have to order this book!
    So trying to eat healthy and lose a few pounds!
    Great that she gives modifications to recipes.
    I know you all loved your cozy stay on Whidbey!
    xo

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  9. Looks tasty but - remove that bay leaf! The sharp edges of a dried bay leaf can scratch up your insides, so if you puree it with everything else, it's actually slightly dangerous.

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  10. Thanks Diana Draw! I just could not find that thing for some reason! Next time I will leave out :)

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