White Bean & Black Rice Soup with Kale

My friend Linda gave me a recipe recently for Chickpea & Rice Soup With a Little Kale.  I made it this weekend for our lunches and dinners this week with some white beans I had on hand and black forbidden rice. That's why mine came out more like a brown sauce stew than soup.  I thickened it with the cashews creme and it came out very nice.  It's a nice hearty stew that will warm the bones in the cold weather this week.  This recipe can be made with just about any beans and your favorite brown rice.

Here's the recipe the way I made it.

White Bean & Black Rice Soup with Kale

I cooked 1 cup and a half of white great northern beans that I soaked for about six hours in a quart of low sodium vegetable broth.  I cooked them until tender and the liquid was most absorbed.  Canned beans may be used - 1 24 ounce can white beans drained and rinsed.

3/4 cup cashews, soaked in 2 hours or overnight
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
3/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon salt
Fresh ground black pepper
3/4 cup forbidden rice
3 ribs celery, thinly sliced
1 cup carrots, diced chunky
5 cups vegetable broth (may need more depending on the desired consistency)

Thinly sliced green onion for garnish

Drain the cashews and place them in a blender with one cup of fresh filtered water.  Blend until completely smooth, scraping the sides of the food processor or blender.

In a large soup pot saute onion in a couple tablespoons water, adding 1 tablespoon at a time to keep from sticking to the pot until translucent.  Add garlic, rosemary, thyme, salt and pepper and saute a couple minutes more.

Add rice, celery, and carrots and then pour in the broth.  Cover and bring to a boil.  Once boiling, bring down to a simmer, add the beans, and let cook for about 20 - 25 minutes until rice is cooked and carrots are tender.

Add the cashew creme and kale, and simmer until kale is wilted, 3 to 5 minutes more.  You may need to add more vegetable broth or water to the soup if it seems to thick.  Serve topped with sliced green onions.

Cheezy Crunchy Kale Chips

I mentioned the kale chip marinade in my last flax cracker recipe post, but I don't think I've actually posted a kale chip recipe yet. I've been making kale chips quite regularly this year since I am growing plenty of beautiful purple kale in the garden.  I spotted them in the local health food store recently and, my goodness, they were about $7+ a package for what I thought was about $.50 worth of kale.  The packaging must be expensive.  I made up my mind right there to find a good recipe we liked.  This is a very tasty recipe.  I brought some to the baby shower for Gracie and Rhonda really thought I used cheese to make them.  She had a surprised look on her face when she tasted them and said "You used cheese."  Nope, they're vegan.

I had a recipe I was using that was adequate, but this one came in summer recipe Newsletter from VegNews.  I really like it.  With the kale and tahini, they're a high calcium yummy chip.  I made just a couple substitutions:  I used the fresh kale from my garden and tamari in place of the Bragg's Liquid Aminos.  I have recently heard that Bragg's Liquid Aminos have some of the same qualities as MSG so I've decided to avoid it.

The recipe calls for 1 bunch kale, not sure how much I really used as it was more like an armload.  I doubled the recipe and it worked out just fine. Kale dehydrates faster than most the fruit I dry.  I think these were done before I went to bed, about 6-8 hours in the dehydrator.

These are a big hit at my house even with the guy who doesn't like raw kale. In fact, the last time I made some he enthusiastically helped me clean and ready all the kale.  The chips don't hang around too long when I make them. 

Cheezie, Crunchy Kale Chips
     by Kittee Berns

1 bunch kale, cleaned and de-stemmed
2 tablespoons tahini
4 tablespoons warm water
1-1/2 tablespoons Bragg's Liquid Aminos or Tamari
1/4 teaspoon chipotle chili powder
1/8 teaspoon cayenne
3 tablespoons plus 1/4 cup nutritional yeast, divided
1 medium carrot, coarsely grated

1. Cut kale into 2-inch pieces I just tore them in the sizes I like, I like them a bit larger with the leaf shape still pretty much intact.

2.  In a small bowl, place the tahini and tablespoon by tablespoon, mix in the warm water until smooth.  Stir in the aminos or tamari, chili powder, and cayenne, and 3 tablespoons nutritional yeast, and mix until smooth. Stir in grated carrot.

3.  In a giant bowl, or in batches if necessary, combine kale with sauce.  Toss to cover every leaf with sauce and carrots. Then add the remaining 1/4 cup nutritional yeast, so that it clings to the leaves.

4.  Divide the kale evenly over the dehydrator trays and dehydrate between 105-115º for about 4-6 hours until dry and crispy.  I put one of the dehydrator trays on top of the kale to keep it from blowing off when they dry. 

They can be made using an oven on a cookie sheet with parchment paper.  Follow the directions for dehydrating, but when you lay the kale on the tray, try to get it in as much of a single layer as possible.  Heat the oven to its lowest temperature.  Watch carefully and flip several times at 16 to 20 minute intervals until dry and crispy.