Dark Days Soup

First off, as a follow up, I did try out the Squash tart from "Green Bean Dreams" this week and it was great. I had an ambercup squash left from an earlier trip to the farm market and local onions. I added some shitake mushrooms. I know that is probably sounding a bit like a broken record since I seem to keep adding them to a variety of things I've made lately. But, we get them from Oregon all through the winter and they go well with so many different things. The ambercup is a beautiful golden color, so the tart was pretty to look at, as well as tasting good.

Then, on Thursday evening, I made a bean soup that was also mostly local. I have this dangerous habit of trying new recipes when we're having guests. But, fortunately, this one was very successful. I'd gotten a mix of four kinds of dried beans at the Hillsdale market last weekend - cannellini, cranberry beans and two others that I can't remember. I also used those lovely baby carrots and some onions in the photo of my trip to the market. I combined ideas from a recipe in The Slow Cook and one from The Splendid Table: Big Bean Soup Served with Little Nibbles. One of the extras I added was locally grown arugula. Then the recipe suggests serving the soup with any of a variety of "embellishments". The ones I chose happened to mostly not be local, however. But, they were nice enhancements, including parigiano-reggiano and parrano cheeses, chopped parsley, and a peperonata that I made with four kinds of peppers and farm market onions. With more planning time and effort, I could use other embellishments from local sources and I do plan to make this soup again.