13 Bean Soup with Kale and Roasted Garlic

Today for lunch I made a 13 Bean Soup with Kale and Roasted Garlic.

Kale*--I had some kale I needed to use. I was going to braise it...

Beans--...but yesterday I had put two cups of Bob's Red Mill 13 Bean Soup Mix to soak overnight, and I had already planned to make soup today, so I just decided to put the kale in there. I've been liking kale a lot lately.

Tomato Juice--Yesterday I bought a bottle of Campbell's Tomato Juice. I was out and really needed something to drink and really wasn't in the mood for any else at the bodega like beer or soda, so I got this really salty brand of tomato juice from concentrate. I only drank about half of it. Since I didn't have any fresh tomatoes to add to my soup today, I just put the leftover tomato juice in there. I always prefer fresh tomatoes...this was just some kitchen improvisation.

Fresh Parsley--I had also had one remaining bunch of fresh parsley I really needed to use or lose, so that went in the soup...no problem. I don't know why people chop herbs into shreds for cooking. I have never minded, and maybe even preferred, larger pieces or whole leaves of fresh herbs in my food. I think it looks nice, too...nice and rustic.

Salt--I have garbage Red Cross salt...I'm holding out for some beautiful pink Himalayan Salt that I saw at my local natural foods store that comes with its own ceramic salt grinder. It's $20.00. So, I put some garbage salt in there.

Carrots*--I have a ton of carrots. I peeled and cut up three large carrots using the "roll cut" technique which is great to use for carrots if you are using them in soups, stews, or roasting them. It's such a cute and quirky cut.

Dried Herbs and Spices*--I have a bottle of Frontier "Salad Sprinkle" which I bought last week and have been using in almost everything savory lately. It has no salt, but has things in it like chervil, sesame seeds, red pepper flakes, and green bell pepper flakes...it's just so delicious. I'm generally against using herb or spice mixes...even curry powder (I just like seasoning food from scratch and feel too lazy or mediocre using someone else's ideas of what good seasoning combinations are), but I just really love this one...it's so versatile. I wasn't thrilled with having sesame seeds in my bean soup, but I thought it wouldn't be the most unspeakable culinary faux pas there ever was, so I just put two tablespoons of that in my soup.

Celery*--I chopped two celery stalks and put that in the soup. I'm not a big fan of celery in soup, but I love the flavor and the aroma of celery.

Olive Oil--I added about 1/4 cup of olive oil to the 2 quarts of soup that was already done after simmering for about 1 1/2 hours.

Garlic*--Lastly, I peeled about 10 cloves of one small head of garlic. I sliced the cloves in half lengthwise, and roasted them in some safflower oil (my multi-purpose oil of choice...I love descented coconut oil, but it's so expensive) in a small cast iron pan for about 20 minutes until they were soft and brown.

I'd taken my pot of soup off the burner to cool off and thicken a bit. I stirred in the roasted garlic and served myself a bowl of soup. It's really tasty.

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* organic