Herself's Recipes

This soup is full of good things for you and easy to make, although there are lots of pans involved. This soup is worth the effort.

2 cups dry black beans
2 cans diced, flavored tomatoes (I use Fresh Cut)
4 medium potatoes, diced small
1/2 large onion diced
2 Tablespoons of cooking oil
2 Tablespoons of basil (fresh if you can)
1 clove garlic minced
6 cubes of chicken bullion and 6 cups of water

Put black beans in a pan with water and boil until the beans are soft enough to chew.

In a skillet put oil, onion, garlic, basil, and potatoes and cook until potatoes are tender and onions are clear.

In a crock pot or in a large pot over a very low heat add the tomatoes with the juice, the chicken bullion, the cooked, drained and rinsed beans and the cooked potatoes and onions .

Cook over a very low heat or in crock pot 4 to 6 hours.

We make this often in the summer when the garden is giving up pounds of tomatoes and cucumbers daily. We usually make fresh rolls and a dipping sauce to go with it.

4 cups V-8 juice
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
4 large tomatoes diced
1 large cucumber diced
1 cup of croutons

Put everything in a bowl and let it chill about a half hour while you make the rolls and dipping sauce

Dipping sauce:
1/4 cup olive oil
2 large garlic cloves
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup grated cheese, either Parmesan or Romano
1 tbsp chopped fresh basil

Crush the garlic cloves and put into the olive oil and microwave on high for 3 minutes, let it sit and cool. After it cools add the rest of the ingredients and stir.

When the tomato plant was first discovered by Europeans in South America is was believed to be a member of the deadly Nightshade family but pretty. It was brought back to Europe purely as a decorative plant and actually made it all the way around the Mediterranean and back across the Atlantic to North America before people got up the courage to eat the thing in Colonial Times.

Gazpacho is a liquid salad from the southern Spanish region of Andalusia, made of ripe tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers, garlic, and bread moistened with water that is blended with olive oil, vinegar, and ice water and served cold. It probably originated as a soup during the time when Spain was part of the Islamic world in the Middle Ages, a soup the Spanish call an ajo blanco, which contained garlic, almonds, bread, olive oil, vinegar, and salt.