It’s that time again. What’s On the Menu Wednesday at your house this week? Did you try a new idea or pull out an old favorite? Whatever it was, I hope you will share it with all of us by linking up below.
I was thumbing through several of my several cooking magazines this weekend when I came across this
Pesto Bean Soup recipe in the Food Network Magazine’s March issue. Since I always make a TON of homemade pesto each summer, I’m always looking for ways to incorporate it into our meals. As our Perfect Girl would say, “ Ta. Da!” We have a winner.
Well…with some slight alteration that is. You knew there would be.
I liked that you could start with a vegetable side dish and then turn it into a soup. That was a plus.
I liked that it was easy and relatively inexpensive. I really liked that I had all of the ingredients on hand. Hip Hip Hooray.
I liked that it had a real mix of flavors…but it still left me wanting a little something else. So, I squeezed in to touch of lemon and added a little more red pepper for heat. I also added in another quarter cup of freshly grated parmesan — not the dry stuff —the real stuff.
I suggested that maybe some fresh spinach or kale stirred in would be a nice addition as well. Hubs agreed. As an afterthought, I think finely shredded carrots would be good as well.
Or, how about a nice big crusty crouton toasted with parmesan?
Looking forward to giving all of those a try. Any suggestions?
We really did like this. We really did. The flavors are intense and varied. But it wasn’t exactly “meal-total” which our soups typically are. It was, however, very tasty. In fact, it got better as it aged. I suggest that you make it early in the day, or the day before even, and let it “age.”
I have some artichoke and lemon pesto awaiting a recipe. I’d love to have some creative suggestions from you.
Meanwhile, I’m looking forward to what you have to say. Thanks for joining me this week.
Linked to:
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Muffin Mondays
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Related
It’s that time again. What’s On the Menu Wednesday at your house this week? Did you try a new idea or pull out an old favorite? Whatever it was, I hope you will share it with all of us by linking up below.
Thanks for this great recipe. It is cold and rainy here in Brisbane, Australia today. Autumn has finally arrived and so has soup weather!
Best wishes and thanks for having me,
Natasha.
Hi Debbie,
Your Bean Soup looks delicious. It is so cold here today Soup would really be great. Thank you for hosting and have a wonderful week!
This soup sounds excellent! Thanks!
I have a question about your pesto: I got 2 harvests out of 2 plants last summer and it was enough to dry and I still have 1/2 left that I use in cooking. How many plants did you plant to be able to get enough pesto? Do you freeze it?
Thanks!
I love bean soup! Thanks for linking up at Muffin Monday and sharing your delicious pesto bean soup with our readers. Hope to see you again next week!
Hmmm…such a hearty soup! Thanks for sharing and of course, for hosting this link party. More power!
That soup looks great. We love bean soup. I’ll have to try this.
Thanks for linky!
Linda @ Linda’s Lunacy
http://www.lindaslunacy.blogspot.com
Wow does that soup look amazing! It would go so good with the beer bread I posted today. Cannot wait to try it.
Wow does that soup look amazing! It would go so good with the beer bread I posted today. Cannot wait to try it.
Hi — this soup sounds wonderful! Thank you for the recipe! I’d also like to invite you to add “What’s for Dinner?” to your linky list – at my blog, Homegrown Learners. It’s open each Wednesday-Thursday!
http://www.homegrownlearners.com
Mary
Soup looks great, gonna to try it this weekend
Looks delicious. I’d love some spinach stirred in as well as the Parmesan croutons!
Bamboo,
I could not respond to your question because the link back isn’t working. However, hopefully, you will check back here for the answer to your question.
Actually, I only had one Genovese basil plant last summer. Since I don’t have a garden anymore, I plant a large urn of kitchen herbs. I feed this fish emulsion; they grow prolifically. I keep my basil clipped back, and it grows profusely.
I make pesto– usually basil-pine nut pesto — and freeze it in ice cub trays. Each cube equals about 1 – 1 1/2 T pesto.
I also make artichoke-lemon pesto, walnut-basil pesto, etc. I freeze these as well.
I do not freeze basil or dry it either. If needed, I buy it fresh during the year or use dried if absolutely necessary.
Hope this helps.
Hi,
Great Blog.
That looks so good! New follower here, hope that you will follow back!
http://kellyhunterphotography.blogspot.com/
This looks so delicious, Debbie! Thanks for sharing this and the resources as well. I just landed on your blog and I am now following you thanks to Welcome Wednesday blog hop and it would be so nice if you could share the love back on my blog:)
And don’t forget to check our new Blog Tutorial going on today. It’s very easy and it would look amazing on your blog:) See you there!
Happy Thursday
I’ve never thought of adding pesto to soup. Sounds delicious! Thanks for sharing and for hosting this recipe swap.
Hello! Newest follower from the blog hop! Would love for you to stop by and follow back, whenever you get a chance. Have a great week! (:
Amber
http://beautifullybellafaith.blogspot.com
Thank you so much for bringing your Pesto Bean Soup to share with us at Full Plate Thursday. Hope to see you next week!
Looks like a very hearty soup!
I am love with soup and this on looks divine! Thanks for sharing it on Tuesday’s Tasty Tidbits. I always love to see what you are cooking.
I can’t have enough soup! Thanks for sharing.
I’m hosting a wonderful tea sampler GIVEAWAY! Come check it out when you have time.
http://utry.it/2011/04/two-leaves-and-bud-tea-company-product.html
Amy
http://utry.it
This soup looks excellent. I love bean soups and this is very different from my recipes. Thanks for sharing!
Sounds fabulous–I love pesto, soups, and beans. Your alterations sound great, and my CSA delivery promises fresh basil. I think I’ll be ready for this recipe later this week!
Thanks for linking to Food on Fridays!
I love pesto, and your soup looks fantastic! I think any of those additions would work really well, and I love the idea of a parmesan crouton – yum! Thank you for linking this to Let’s Do Brunch. This week’s linky is now up so please do come along and join in if you haven’t already 🙂