soup on a dreary day

How are things in your neck of the woods? As dreary as it is here?

I'm happy that I have my houseplants and that so far they seem to be doing very well despite the dreariness (remember the pittosporum hedge in California? My little potted plant is full of flowers right now!)

It's been cloudy-dark, rainy, misty and foggy. Perfect weather for soup (even if I'd rather have my soup accompanied by some snow). This fall and winter I've been on a soup-making kick. I've just been making up recipes based on what ingredients I have around and what I feel like eating. I have to admit that I find myself getting annoyed with recipes a lot of the time. They call for ingredients I don't have when I don't have time to run to the store. Or, more often, I can't find just the right recipe for what I have in mind. Sometimes no matter how simple the idea in my head, I can't find a recipe to match. The good thing about soup is that it's hard to mess up if you feel like improvising. I have a few favorites that I've made up or modified from other recipes (or combinations of recipes). Recently I keep coming back to a bean and potato soup that is just so hearty and cozy. Even if you're like me and hate to follow recipes exactly, you might want to try (or tweak) this recipe. I use rosemary snipped from the potted plants on my windowsill which in and of itself is such a Joy.

White Bean and Potato Soup with Rosemary and Garlic

1 medium to large onion
olive oil
4-6 medium potatoes (or more/fewer depending on size), washed and cubed
3-5 cloves of garlic (depending on their size and your taste), minced or crushed
4 cups broth (I used Trader Joe's chicken broth packets at 1/2 concentration)
handful fresh rosemary
2 13.4 oz. packages of white beans (or 2 cans or equivalent dried beans, cooked)
salt

Sauté onion in olive oil until golden and transparent. Add garlic and sauté until fragrant. Stir in potatoes and add a little salt (unless the broth you're using is salty, mine was not). Let sauté a couple minutes stirring occasionally to thoroughly coat potatoes. Pour in broth, adding more water if needed to cover the potatoes. Stir in rosemary sprigs, pulling apart the needles a bit as you add them to the pot. Cover the pot and let simmer until potatoes are soft (about 15-20 minutes). Using an immersion (hand) blender, puree about half of the soup (or ladle about 1/2 of the soup into a blender, puree and return to the pot). Add the rinsed beans, stir, cover and let simmer a couple minutes to heat the beans. If the soup is too thick, add a bit of water. Taste and add more salt if necessary. Serve.

I've used new yellow potatoes and russet potatoes. Both are yummy. Pureeing only part of the soup leaves some chunks of potatoes and gives the soup a bit of creaminess (without adding any dairy). Variations are endless... meat, cheese, veggies, other herbs. It's fast and simple and it tastes really good (especially served with bread and beer).

I have a hard time grasping the fact that Christmas Eve is two weeks from today. I've been adding little bits of holiday cheer here and there. Mostly I just want a cozy house with lots of flowers (I'm not big into seasonal decorating). I have some narcissus in jars in the window and even without flowers they seem kind of festive to me.

And after reading Karen's post, I really want to use some more jars to make some of these.