Where's the Meat Mom?

Meatless Monday

In an effort to eat healthier I’ve joined in the ‘Meatless Monday’ movement and my family is the beneficiary. My husband is not a big fan of this so I haven’t been as disciplined yet as I intend to be, but it’s coming. So on those Mondays when I plan ahead or see that I can manage to prepare a meatless meal, like today, I forge forward in my quest.

Today, we are having a soup with navy beans, black eye peas, carrots, and white potatoes. The peas and beans are in the crock pot now. I usually add a smoked meat to a soup like this like turkey necks or a ham hock. When those items are not available I have added bacon or a smoked sausage for flavor. Because this is a meatless dish, I will not add any of those yummy items but I will include some liquid smoke for some of that flavor. No chicken broth or bullion will be added either it’s strictly veggie style.

This is my personal rendition of the soup. It’s want I have on hand and how I usually prepare it. I may add another potato or carrot, who knows, it depends. It is meant to be enough to serve 4 with maybe some leftover for tomorrow since we are eating it with bread.

Ingredients:

½ cup dry Black eye peas

½ cup dry navy beans

3 medium carrots

4 medium white potatoes

1 clove garlic

¼ cup chopped onions

¼ cup celery

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon paprika

1 tablespoon salt

Vegetable broth Optional

Wash and soak dry beans and peas.

In slow cooker/crock pot add beans/peas with 1quart water.

After 2 hours add cubed potatoes and carrots to bean/pea mixture. Add salt, pepper and paprika to slow cooker.

When beans/peas, potatoes and carrots are cooked soup. Saute' onions, celery and garlic in vegetable oil of your choice in a soup pot. To thicken broth, add flour in pan, mix with onion, celery, as garlic. After flour mixes well, add beans/peas, potatoes and carrots and the water or vegetable broth to soup pot along with the sauted items. Allow all items to simmer together for 10 minutes on low.

Serve with your favorite garnish and enjoy with some fresh baked bread. Here we would eat it with cornbread! By the way, we like to add salsa as a garnish for a soup like this or a chutney. Yum!

This will be perfect for us because today is the first day of a Vacation Bible School and we are all either there or at work so when we all get home we want to eat and not have to wait. This will be ready when we walk in the door.