Working long hours? Trying to get too much done before the holidays? Make a pot of soup on the weekend (let it simmer on the stove while you read the paper), and then during the week, when it’s cold and dark outside, warm it up. But I hear you grumbling in the background…..

“Beans and barley contain carbs!”, you mutter. Please, oh, please, don’t go crazy and stop eating good carbohydrates. We need protein, fats and carbohydrates. “Why?” you ask, “I don’t want to be fat!”

More on the fat subject next month, but for now, remember that protein and fats satisfy appetite, and “good”, unrefined carbohydrates like those in whole grains and beans boost mood by lifting serotonin levels. All carbohydrates make us feel happy. Complex carbohydrates keep us feeling happy.

Serves 6

12 cups water	2” piece burdock, diced
1 ½ c organic barley bean soup mix	2 bay leaves
2" piece kombu (kelp)	one 5.5 oz Whole in Wall Garlic Spike pesto*
4 organic carrots, diced	1 tsp Celtic sea salt
2 organic parsnips, diced	1 tsp black pepper
8 cloves garlic, minced

Rinse bean mixture in a colander. Place in soup kettle with water and 2” piece kombu. See note below about kombu. Bring soup to a boil and cook, uncovered, for 5 minutes. Add carrots, parsnips, garlic, burdock and bay leaves. Cover pot, lower heat, and simmer soup 3 hours. Beans and barley will then be nice and soft.

Stir in pesto, salt and pepper, and let soup sit for 10 minutes off the stove. Then taste and adjust seasoning. Spoon into bowls and eat, or put away to warm up during the week. Soup actually tastes better a day or two later.

Why do we add kombu? It breaks down the indigestible part of the bean which causes gas. Barley is soothing and nourishing. Burdock, which we have on Tuesdays with our organic produce, is a blood cleanser. It also boosts the immune system. Pesto makes everything luscious.

* Can’t do dairy? Substitute Whole in the Wall dairy-free pesto, which we also carry.