soup at sunset

Talk about photographically challenged--morning pics in the dark rain, dinner pics as the sun was setting. Plus we were low on groceries...

Ryan
& AJ's
lunches:
honey-
dew
melon;
mixed
nuts;
apple-
sauce
cook-
ies;
rice
w/goma
shio;
broc-
coli.

Tonight
is movie
night
at the
elem-
entary school. The boys have a choice of Toy Story 3 or the Karate Kid.

Dinner
was a
yummy
soup
full of
farm
veg-
gies
and
beans.
On the
side I
made
some
rose-
mary
bread-
sticks
and
pepper-
oni
bread
twists.

White Bean, Cabbage & Celery Soup

2 T. olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 large carrots, chopped
1/2 cup celery, chopped
1 vegetable bouillon cube
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/2 cup celeriac (celery root), peeled & chopped
1 large potato, peeled & chopped
1 cup tomatoes, chopped
1 cup cabbage, roughly chopped in bite-sized wedges
1/2 tsp. liquid smoke
1 can (15.5 oz.) cannellini beans (or other white beans)
1/2 cup celery leaves
1/2 tsp. marjoram
water to fill pot

Add first 6 ingredients to a soup pot. Saute over medium-low heat until veggies are tender. Add next 4 ingredients plus water to fill the pot three-quarters full. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and cook 20 minutes. Add cabbage & liquid smoke. Cook another 20 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and cook another 10-20 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool for a few minutes. Remove about 2 cups of the soup and puree (or use an immersion blender briefly) and return to pot. Stir and serve.

Pepperoni Bread Twists

1 batch of my pizza dough
for dummies
1/2 a package of veggie
pepperoni
kosher salt
garlic powder
dried oregano
olive oil

First make the pizza dough and allow to rise. (I like to let it rise for an hour, knead it for 1 minute and cover again, let it rise for another hour, then use.)
Break dough into 8 pieces. Flour your work surface or use your hands to roll and stretch the dough into long thin pieces about 1 foot long each. Two at a time, place the ropes of dough down next to each other. Place 2 pieces of veggie pepperoni on the dough every 2-3 inches, twisting the other piece of dough around and over the top of the pepperoni. Repeat 3 times for each foot-long pair of dough. Then cut into 3 equal sections and place on a baking sheet. Repeat until you have 12 bread twists. Brush tops with olive oil, then sprinkle with a little salt, garlic powder & dried oregano. Bake at 350 degrees 15 minutes for scrumptious soft bread twists.

You can also use this same exact process to make rosemary breadsticks. Just create 8 long dough ropes, brush with olive oil, and sprinkle with a little garlic powder and some chopped rosemary & kosher salt. Then bake 15-20 minutes. Yum!