One last recipe for the month

Next week I am jetting off to Vancouver. That blizzard was the last straw, I tell you!

I have plans for continuing my cookbook journey, but I am not taking January's book with me for the last week of the month. February's book is The New Basics, which is very large and heavy so I won't carry that with me, either. It is also ubiquitous, and I can take it out of the library or find it secondhand with no trouble. I can also totally switch things up (my blog, my rules!) and cook from a book I have there, likely Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything. We'll know by February 1, that's all I'm saying about that!

On the day of the big snow (we stayed indoors because of Snowmicron, apparently!) I felt the urge to save the world through food, and so made a loaf of challah -- the bread machine made the dough and I braided it. 

It was delicious, and looks so impressive, doesn't it?

I also found an easy and quick soup recipe in January's book, Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home. It was Portuguese White Bean Soup. I am pretty sure the recipe in the book only calls for one can of beans. At least, one can is what I had and what I used! I also used leftover potatoes, so cooking time was even quicker, and I threw in some carrots and broccoli stems. When it was done I pureed it, because the skins on the beans were quite tough -- not a usual problem with canned beans, but there you go. It was nice pureed! The bay leaf and fennel were a nice flavour combo, and a squirt of lemon juice gave it all some zip. 

Totally easy and tasty, warming on a snowy day, with a piece of fresh bread to go with!