Farro and White Bean Soup

Michelle prepared 4 recipes for this session of South Arm Older Adults Cooking Club.

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The first recipe is Farro (or Tuscan Spelt) and White Bean Soup. Making soup is a great way to use leftovers. This soup is a complete meal with grains, beans and veggies.

Farro is a grain related to wheat that is lower in gluten and has a different flavour and texture. You can use spelt or barley in place of farro.

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups cannellini beans (white beans), soaked overnight and cooked or approximate 3 cups canned
  • 1 1/2 cups spelt or farro, soaked 4 to 8 hours if not pearled
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 1 carrot, diced
  • 1 celery stalk, diced
  • 1 sprig fresh rosemary, remove stem and chop
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 cup chopped tomatoes, peeled and seeded or 1 can diced tomatoes
  • 4 cups vegetable or chicken stock
  • salt and pepper to taste

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P/S: we substituted the onion with extra garlic as onion was missing from the groceries list.

Source: South Arm Older Adults Cooking Club

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Vegetarian Bean and Apple Cassoulet

Michelle prepared a Vegetarian Bean and Apple Cassoulet for the main course for the South Arm Older Adults Cooking Club.

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Original cassoulet is loaded with meat. This is a vegetarian version where protein is substituted with white beans. This dish can be made in less than half an hour if you use canned beans, but Michelle prefers the texture of the cooked, dried beans with some planing ahead as the dried beans will cook faster after soaking in boiling water for overnight.

Serve with crostini or slices of baguette alongside.

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups dried beans (Zuni or other white beans) or 3 canned white beans, drained
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 onion, peeled and diced
  • 2 carrots peeled and diced
  • 2 celery stalks, diced
  • 2 medium Yukon gold potatoes, scrubbed and diced
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 apple, peeled and diced
  • 4 sprigs thyme, stripped from stem or 1 teaspoon dried one
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 2 cups vegetable stock
  • 1 cup apple cider or unsweetened apple juice
  • optional: cooked bacon (veggie or pork for the carnivores!)

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Source: mintgreenapron.blogspot.com

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Creamy Bean Soup with Fresh Herbs and Spinach

The next dish which the South Arm Cooking Club for Seniors made is a bean soup.  Soup is comfort food especially in the colder fall and winter.  This bean soup is adapted from Cara Brunetti Hillyard and it serves 6.   Chris and Paul made this soup.

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Chris and Paul made two versions of this bean soup.  One is the creamy version while another is the broth version.  The creamy version is smooth while the broth version has more texture to it.  The soup is very filing too with the beans as a source of protein.

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