I ate an entire pineapple the other day. I relished every moment, but afterward I couldn’t really feel my tongue. Sometimes you just have weird trials, you know? Mine apparently is an allergy to my favorite fruit. I was a little disappointed that I could not taste this soup I had just spent the afternoon making. But it was so worth it.

My sister Laura bought me 19 pounds of pineapple last week. That’s just the kind of awesome person she is; either that or she’s trying to sabotage my tongue, but I’m guessing it’s the former.

She also bought me 5 pounds of potatoes, 1 pound of carrots, 1 green cabbage, the most giant cucumber I have ever seen, 4 green onions, 1 head savoy cabbage, 1 head romaine, 1 head of something green, 8 tomatoes, 1 crenshaw, 8 oranges, 8 apples, and 10 bananas. And a partridge in a pear tree.

Have you heard of Bountiful Baskets? It’s a produce co-op. You pay a flat fee and are given a huge basket of produce that would have probably cost twice as much at the store. And you get enough to feed a small army:

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Look at all that!! Isn’t it awesome?  The pineapple (8 total) cost an extra $12, but the regular fruits and veggies cost about $16. You don’t get to pick what you want, so you end up with stuff you wouldn’t ever buy (Crenshaw anyone? Savoy salad? What the heck? Or am I once again proving my lack of produce know-how?) It makes for some fun adventures.

Savoy is so pretty.

It’s a pretty sweet deal and I highly recommend it. Thanks Laura for introducing me, and even buying me my first basket!

Just wish me luck using all those greens before they wilt. Come over to my house if you are craving salad. Or soup. Soup and salad. I should open my own lunch buffet. Seriously though this Lentil and Black Bean Soup is awesome stuff. I doubled it and froze most of the leftovers for a rainy (cooking) day, but we already busted it out because we can’t stop eating it. Charlotte is in love, she has had it for almost every meal since I made it.

And I love it too, when I finally was able to taste it after my pineapple escapade. The soup has a rich flavor without feeling heavy. It goes perfect with a corn muffin and a salad. (Maybe 2 salads.)

Lentil and Black Bean Soup

Source: Smells Like Home

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 large stalks celery, diced
2 large carrots, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons paprika (I used 1 tsp regular and 1 tsp smoked)
2 bay leaves
1 can (14 ounces) diced tomatoes
1 cup dried brown lentils
4 3/4 cup low-sodium vegetable or chicken broth
3 cups water*
1 can (14 ounces) black beans, rinsed and drained, divided
1/4 cup chopped parsley
Salt and pepper to taste

In a large pot, heat the oil over medium heat.  Add the onion, celery, and carrots and cook until the vegetables begin to soften, 6-7 minutes.

Add garlic, paprika and bay leaves and cook for about 30 seconds or until fragrant. Add tomatoes and their juices, lentils, half of the black beans, the chicken broth and the water. Increase heat to high and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-high and cook, stirring occasionally, until the lentils are tender, about 35 minutes.

Remove from heat and discard the bay leaves. Transfer half the mixture to a blender or food processor and pulse until combined but not pureed – make sure you vent the top of the machine with a cloth as the hot liquid will explode inside when you begin to pulse. (Alternatively, you could use a hand or immersion blender and blend half of the soup while it’s still in the pot, which is what I did.)

Add mixture back to pot, along with remaining black beans. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed. Bring the soup back to a simmer over medium heat for another 10-15 minutes until the lentils are fully cooked through. Stir in parsley and serve.

*Note: I doubled this recipe and still only added 3 cups of water. And it was still a bit much. So if you double, start small and move up. You can always add more.

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Comments

  1. you should be so proud of me, i made this – i even put the black beans in! i tried a couple of the things suggested – 2 cups less water, a little cumin, and just because i thought it sounded good, i added some chicken & apple sausage, which was delicious :) i forgot the parmesan and coconut, so i’ll try adding that to the next bowl i eat – tonight!

  2. oooooh Laura that sounds so good!! I will definitely try that next time. And I think I will try some cumin next time too, why not? I’m so glad you liked it!!! Yeah vegetarian!

  3. Karen, I made this yesterday. Only I of course had to change some things because I never have everything in my pantry like I think I do. It was still really good though! (I had to use half brown and half red lentil beans, half black and half pinto beans, etc). I only used 10 c total liquid (I doubled it) and think that was plenty. I also added a splash of whole milk (wish I’d had some cream on hand), cumin (just a few sprinkles, mainly because I ran out of paprika) and some parmesan, prob about 1/4 c in the double batch. Oh, and here’s the kicker – I had put some coconut on our salad, and on a whim I used it as a garnish on top in my bowl. SO GOOD. So if you have any sweetened shredded coconut lying around, try a sprinkle on your next bowl. Seriously, do it.

  4. This looks great!
    On a side note I feel that we must share some genetic markers. My oldest daughter has a similar problem with pineapple, only it’s her lips that swell up and get sores, not the inside of her mouth. So if she is very careful and gets very little of the juice on her lips then she is fine, which makes watching her eat pineapple very entertaining.

  5. Why is our family so weird? Why can’t we eat pineapple and lots and lots of citrus without destroying the interior of our mouths? Sigh. All I want to do is consume copious amounts of fruit and have a tongue without sores on it… I’m glad you enjoyed the pineapple, numb-tongue or not. So, I didn’t know what the heck salad savoy was – or even that that was the name of what I got, so you’re one step ahead of me. I’m going to try this: http://inspiredrd.com/2011/01/salad-savoy-chips.html – she had a few other good ideas in her post. Have you eaten your crenshaw yet? OH MY GOSH. Ours was soo good. Adam told he thinks it’s his new favorite melon. I’m so glad you’re enjoying your produce!!!

    1. Wow Laura, those look great! I hope Joy and I get some of that Savoy stuff in our basket this week! I want to try them and they look so easy too! Bountiful Baskets is so popular in Sidney that the 90 baskets sold out in 30 minutes. Joy (my sister-in-law) is driving to Miles City (120 miles away) on Saturday to visit her aunt and pick up ours because we didn’t get in fast enough to buy one in Sidney and she wanted one SO BAD! They are adding another site in Fairview – a little town 11 miles north of Sidney and we hope they add another site in Sidney.

      Thanks for the great idea!

  6. P.S. I forget to add your soup smells delicious! I can smell it all the way to Montana! I will have to make it soon!

    1. I’m so glad they have it in Sidney! I was sure they wouldn’t. Awesome, I’m so glad you are doing it. You really do eat more fruit and veggies when they are literally taking over your kitchen.

  7. Karen, as soon as you started writing about all the produce Laura gave you I KNEW you were talking about Bountiful Baskets! They started here in Sidney not too long ago and Joy brought me some granola,bananas, cumcumbers (she sliced them and I ate a whole bag at work yesterday), Italian frying peppers and a couple other things I forget now. We ordered one together on Monday and it comes on Saturday! I’m so excited! We are sharing because we are pretty sure we would not be able to eat all the produce if we each ordered one. This week here in Montana they had an extra Mexican Vegetable addition (hopefully, cilantro, jicama, some cool peppers, etc). We also added on their wonderful wheat bread and a 6 grain bread, some tropical granola and about 18 lbs of pink lady apples and some more pineapple. I think each of us will pay about $50. Joy accidentally hit “2” on the breads so instead of splitting 10 leaves we will each get 10! Luckily, I cleaned out my big freezer about 1 month ago and I have room for them now! I need to eat all this extra produce as I put on at least 5lbs while Jessie was home (I’ll blame it on her) from all her cookies, cupcakes and other goodies. That has pretty much stopped now and we will be eating a LOT of fresh fruit and vegies. Not sure exactly what I’m going to do with all those apples though . . . . I do love pie.

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