I made soup, imagine that.

My friend Margaret makes soup. She talks about her soups. I decided I should make soup. This recipe sounded easy enough for me.

OINKERS AWAY - makes 6 servings

6 slices turkey bacon, chopped
1 cup each chopped onions, celery and carrots
2 tsp minced garlic
4 cups chicken broth, divided
1 tsp dried thyme
3/4 tsp dried marjoram
3 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 can (19oz/540 ml) navy beans, drained and rinsed
1/4 cup chopped FRESH parsley - dried is fine too
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp each salt and freshly ground black pepper

Cook bacon in a large, non-stick soup pot (mine is not non-stick) over medium heat for about 4 minutes, stirring often. Be careful not to burn it. Stir in onions, celery, carrots, garlic, and 1/2 cup chicken broth. Cook and stir for 5 more minutes, until vegetables begin to soften.

Add thyme and marjoram and cook 1 more minute. Stir in flour and mix well. Add remaining chicken broth and bring mixture to a boil. It will thicken slightly.

Stir in beans, parsley, bay leaves, salt and pepper. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes.

Remove bay leaves. Transfer half the soup to a blender and puree soup until smooth. Return pureed soup to pot with remaining soup and mix well. Serve hot.

...........

Instead of canned navy beans I bought dried and soaked them. I learned that they almost double in size so I have left-overs that I have frozen to use in a baked bean recipe I want to try.

The original recipe called for turkey bacon to keep the fat level down. I used maple bacon and drained off the excess fat.

We all loved the soup. I served it as our main meal with slices of a hot rosemary baguette.
Next time I will add more carrots, all other amounts will stay the same.



I don't usually use parsley so when presented with the choice of fresh regular or Italian I picked Italian.

I dried the unused parsley in the microwave on parchment paper. I minute, 1 minute, 1 minute.

I removed any heavy stems, put the dried parsley into a ziplock bag, crushed it, cut off one bottom corner of the bag allowing it to easily pour in a jar for storing.






Today was drizzle more Brandy day for the Christmas cakes.
I managed to get it done and away without cutting myself a slice. Just unwrapping them filled my kitchen with smells of Christmas.

I must be planning on making them again next year. I bought my own large loaf pans.