I'm actually grateful that we get to experience the glory of all 4 seasons, winter gives me an excuse to just hunker down and stay inside for the weekend. And with my self proclaimed quarantine this weekend, since I caught a cold while traveling, I decided to make soup to warm me up and heal my cold.
My travels had brought me a week prior to Goa, India. While vacationing there, I was lucky enough to visit a spice plantation and brought back with me some wonderful (and cheap!) spices. I picked the following recipe because it called for some of the spices I had picked up on my excursion.
Spiced Bean Soup with Rice and Tomato
Adapted from this recipe - 2 medium onions
- 5 garlic cloves
- 5 slices of bacon
- salt and pepper
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1/2 tsp allspice
- 1 15oz can crushed tomatoes
- 8 cups chicken broth
- 16 oz frozen lima beans (about 2 1/2 cups)
- 1/4 brown rice
Chop bacon into 1/2 inch pieces. Saute bacon in large saucepan over medium heat until crisp and remove bacon with a slotted spoon and set aside.
Process onions and garlic in a food processor until finely chopped. Add onions and garlic to bacon grease, season with salt and pepper, and cook over medium-high heat, stirring often, until softened, about 3 minutes.Add cumin, coriander and allspice and cook until onions start to brown, about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes and cook about another 5 minutes or so.
Stir in broth and bring to a boil. Add rice, reduce heat and simmer, partially covered, approximately 20-25 minutes. Add lima beans and simmer, partially covered, an additional 20 minutes until rice and beans are soft. Add crumbled bacon as a garnish or right back into the soup pot. Serve with a dollop of sour cream if desired.
Now I know lima beans aren't everyone's favorite, but give them a chance! I feel like they are that childhood food that you love to hate, just like Brussels sprouts. But we all now love Brussels sprouts (because they are trendy and delicious) and I believe you can love lima beans too.
So I've been hoarding bananas in my freezer for a couple months now, vowing that I'll make banana bread soon. Finally I was able to fulfill this promise to myself. I dug out my Kitchen-Aid mixer, thawed a few ripe bananas and got to baking.
Cookie Butter Banana Bread
- 2 cups flour
- 3/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup butter, softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 1/4 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 3 bananas)
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 cup milk
- 3/4 cup Trader Joe's brand cookie butter (you can also use Nutella)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 9 x 5 inch loaf pan with nonstick spray. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda & salt.
In a stand mixer, cream sugar and butter together. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each egg is added. Add mashed bananas, milk and vanilla and beat until combined. Slowly add flour mixture and beat at low speed until just combined.
In a small microwave save bowl, add cookie butter and heat for 15-30 seconds. Stir to evenly mix and add 1 cup of banana bread mixture and mix well.
Spoon cookie butter mixture alternately with plain banana bread mixture into loaf pan. Swirl batters together with a knife.
Bake 50-60 minutes. Cool in pan for at least 15 minutes and then remove from pan to cool on wire rack.If you haven't tried this Trader Joe's cookie butter yet, I suggest you run out and buy some. It is wonderful.
The only way to make eating this bread more delightful is to slather in with butter. This is how I like to eat most baked goods.
