Yep…I’m bringing back the soup.

It’s quite fitting too, since the temperature in DC has plummeted rapidly since the end of September.  Watch tomorrow will be 90 degrees and sunny and then I’ll look like a fool.  Then again, nothing is cold in comparison to the long winters at my previous alma mater in upstate NY.  Getting a light sprinkling of snow in September or 16 inch snow storm in mid-April were all normal occurrences there.

When most students are busy sun bathing, breaking out the bikinis, and reveling in the lovely spring weather, we were busy putting on our heaviest winter gear, wiping out on black ice, and freezing our butts off braving the long walk to lecture halls.   Don’t believe me?  Here’s the proof:

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I kid you not, my friends.  By the way, that mid-April snowstorm was also the visiting day for newly accepted applicants.  I’m guessing our applicant yield wasn’t so great that year.

Back to the soup…

I bring you…

Lima Bean, Zucchini & Spinach Soup

From Seriously Simple by Diane Worthington

Seriously Simple Ingredients: 

  • Fresh or frozen lima beans
  • Zucchini
  • Fresh Spinach
  • Leeks
  • Chicken or Vegetable Stock
  • Fresh lemon juice

Equipment: Immersion blender, regular old blender, or food processor

seriously-simple-soup3Lima Bean, Zucchini & Spinach Soup

While I normally end up making adaptations to favorite recipes, I made this soup by the book, literally.  Which one?  Another one of my favorite cookbooks, Seriously Simple, by Diane Worthington (read my recap here).  Why mess with a good thing?  Of course, that being said, you could easily change up a few things with this recipe, such as adding more lima beans for extra protein, more spinach, or even some potatoes and other veggies.

However, I love the simplicity of the original.

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It is so smooth, filling, and the lima beans add a delicious, butter-y taste.  Hence, their ‘butterbean’ nickname.

Find a beautifully easy-to-follow ingredient list and recipe directions on Google Books by clicking here.

Lima Bean, Zucchini & Spinach Soup

The original recipes says it makes enough soup for six, but I think that’s being a tad on the stingy side.  If you were making this as a first course for a dinner party (which is how I first tried this one myself), that might be fine, but if you are making this for a main course, I would say it serves about 4 people (so each person can have one and half bowls).  If you want leftovers, I would do 1.5 times what the recipe calls for or you could easily double it.  You can always freeze soup and to be honest, most soups taste even better the second day around.

It’s even better with Cheesy No-Knead Homemade Whole-Wheat Focaccia…but you’ll have to wait for that recipe in my next post!