First soup of the season!

It must be the cold, because early in the day yesterday, I found myself eyeballing my smoothie mini blender (16oz capacity). "I could totally do that," I whispered to myself. I could make my Cannellini Beans w. Spinach and then puree it in batches. And I did! I haven't been to the market, so no mushrooms this time, but I did switch it up a little bit as I often do based on what I have fresh in the kitchen by adding one medium diced shallot to the garlic while it was water-sauteing. Then the cracked pepper on top and ta-da! A hot, thick, and creamy soup for a cold evening.

Salad as an art form

For my first six months or so of this ETL life, I diligently perused bookstores, libraries, and amazon for raw and/or vegan cookbooks. I had exhausted my own ability to be creative in the kitchen with different methods of preparing natural food without fat. It took me a while to realize that raw/vegan cookbooks use copious amounts of oil and nuts. I found myself modifying recipes at the same rate as I would in any traditional cookbook. Alas, I found a few gems and one of those is The Raw Gourmet. This book is half raw cookbook and half instruction manual on how to sprout seeds and soak nuts. It has some recipes without oil (all my cookbooks must meet this criteria to be placed on My ETL Test Kitchen shelf), and great advice on using sprouts in everyday cooking. It also contains one of my very favorite quotes that I recite to myself almost daily:

"Think of salad making as an art. Seek to obtain the highest possible nutritional value from your salads while making them a feast for the eyes as well as the palate."

Love that! It's so true, too! Salads are so gorgeous with their vibrant colors, their multiple textures, and most importantly, their great tasting, highly nutritional ingredients. Making and eating an amazing salad has become an art form for me. I'm inspired by what is fresh at the market, I plan my ingredients according to taste and texture and then I create art in a bowl. Eat To Live is so rewarding on so many levels in my life. I can only hope to inspire others on their journey towards optimum health and happiness.

Simply fill a large bowl with what inspires you and toss it all up.

I like to pick out the greens to form a bed on the plate.

Top with all that yummy goodness and enjoy!

Cannellini Beans w. Spinach

One of my very favorite things to do in my ETL Test Kitchen is modify an existing traditional recipe. It probably won't ever be as good as the original (let's face it: butter, oil, animal fat, cream, and salt really are hella good). But with a little bit of effort and a healthy understanding of the negative effects those ingredients have on our bodies, the ETL version is going to be worth trying and eating!

I learned this recipe from my current client's mother who is an absolute powerhouse in the kitchen. The woman cooks the most amazing dishes from memory alone. She is a walking encyclopedia of Julia Child and Marcella Hazan recipes, two women credited with writing ground-breaking cookbooks in their time. I'll spare you the details of the original recipe, for your own good. (it includes bacon!)

Ingredients:
2 cloves of garlic
1 can no salt added cannellini beans (Eden Organic)
1/2 cup no salt added chicken or veggie stock (Kitchen Basics)
Bag of spinach
Fresh cracked pepper

Water-saute the garlic with just a few spoonfuls of water. Add cannellini beans and stock. Top with as much spinach as your pan will hold. That stuff wilts down to practically nothing. I try to add the entire bag even if it's in stages as the spinach begins to cook. Cover and simmer until the spinach wilts and the beans soften, but before the stock evaporates completely. Top with fresh cracked pepper and enjoy!

Notes-
Chicken actually isn't on ETL, but I make an exception for this stock because:
1. No way I'm making my own. I barely have time to chop all the veggies I eat in a day, let alone make a basic ingredient I can find at the market without salt.
2. It's fat free.
3. It has even less sodium than the veggie version of no salt added.
4. Did I mention I can buy it already made without salt?!

This recipe just begs to be pureed into a soup! The cannellini beans plump up and start to fall apart the longer you cook them. They would be truly creamy once pureed. I was desperate to do just that recently, but I don't yet have a blender in my DC apartment. I've decided with Winter upon us, to buy a stand-up hand mixer for just this type of thing. Soup in a flash! Also, tell me this doesn't sound good: coarsely chopped woody (maybe shitake?) mushrooms on top! Yes, please!

Oh, for shame!

It's been much too long since I've written about this ETL life I love so much. One too many burners going at once, I guess. (pun intended:) So anyway, I've got pictures and recipes piled up from the last few months ready for posting. Look for a burst of fresh, natural food coming this way!