This is the very first blog post from Passion Palate. I was inspired to get it started when someone found a recipe of mine, tried it, liked it, went to my website and sent me a message. It seemed a natural next step to put out a recipe every week or so, in keeping with the slow food mantra of: seasonal,organic, unprocessed and local, or, S.O.U.L food! The byline of my business, Passion Palate, is "deep nutrition/gorgeous food", so the "recipes" will include guidelines for healthy living, diet upgrades, cleansing and ultimately healing inside and out as well as yummy food. I will include "easy" recipes, but talk about kitchen skills you might want to try. Here's a hearty, soul warming dish I came up with yesterday using leftovers from a cooking demo I did at the Farmer's Market this last weekend. Sean, this one's for you!

Cannellini and Kale - a winter pot 'o' beans

serves 4 - 6

Read through ingredients and recipe first to see what you have on hand and what you can substitute and get a sense of the methods/cookware/timing.

1 T. butter (other healthy sautéing oils include: ghee, coconut oil and grapeseed oil)

1 large yellow onion, chopped fine

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 can or box of broth (I used some of my homemade vegetable/mineral broth - see recipe next week!)

2 cans of cannellini (white kidney) beans, drained in colander - can substitute other white beans, lima beans, pinto or other red beans - whatever you have on hand.

5 or 6 leaves of kale, removed from stem and rough chopped - feel free to use other greens you have on hand. Spinach, right at the end; chard without stems, chopped and added before last simmer; collards chopped fine and added early, as you would kale.

sea salt, added in 1/4 teaspoons at a time, tasting as dish is cooking

ground black pepper, one or two grinds

dollop of olive or sun-dried tomato tapenade, or tomato paste (Trader Joe's?) to deepen flavor

1 persimmon, fuyu, chopped fine or, hachiya, softened by freezing/thawing, and scraping out of skin.

3" rosemary branch, leaves removed from stem and chopped fine

a few branches of thyme, leaves removed and added whole - 1 T.

pinch spicy red pepper or hot paprika, or chili flakes

1 T. balsamic vinegar

1 T. lemon juice

dash of tamari or soy sauce

drizzle of good, extra virgin olive oil

shaved parmesan, to garnish each bowl, if desired

In good soup pot or dutch oven, heat butter on medium heat. Add onions and sauté until soft and carmelized. Add garlic and sauté a few minutes more. Be careful not to get them too brown. Use a 1/4 cup of broth to deglaze pot. Add beans and enough broth to let them simmer and get soupy. Add chopped kale, a pinch of salt, grind of fresh black pepper. Simmer until kale gets limp and bright green. Add tomato paste (or prepared tapenade), chopped fruit (can use apple or pear in place of persimmon to add a crisp sweetness to beans), rosemary, thyme and hot pepper. Add more stock/broth as necessary as beans cook down for another few minutes. Add vinegar, lemon juice and soy sauce - these are to taste, so go easy until you get the flavor that works for you. If you want more of a soup, add more broth. Add good olive oil at the end when simmering is done to bring the flavors together. Serve hot in bowls, garnished with shaved or grated parmesan cheese.

Let me know if you have any questions and how it turned out!

See you next week,

Jenn