homemade minestrone and cheesy biscuits

hey girlies.
wanna have tea in the playhouse this morning?
my children are very good servers and we have a wide variety of greens, plastic french fries, and mud tea.
come sit a while.  i have some yummy new recipes for you.

but first.
isn't this truck the bomb dot com?
seriously?
we bought it years ago in hopes to restore it and cruise around on sunday afternoons, wind in our hair...
...but sometimes things like this aren't practical.
with time and money both being a rarity, we've decided to part with her.
the boys are so sad.  :/
i'm so thankful that i got to do a little photo shoot when i took pics to list her on craigslist.
and you know i'm attached when i call it 'her'.
except, i haven't even thought about or seen this truck for months, and i know that it's just a 'thing'.
something i can't take with me when i die, and that has no eternal value.
so it's totally okay. :)

ok. enough of that.  i'm wiping away the tears now.

last thursday, i was sitting in the dentists office waiting for jack and maddie to get their teeth filled{ugh!}, and i was at a loss as to what to make for supper.

time was limited, budget and food were limited at the moment, so i started flipping through some magazines for inspiration.

i found a recipe for minestone soup, which i have always loved, but never made from scratch.

i had most of the ingredients in my kitchen already, so i went home and got to work.

we all loved it and i think you will too!

Classic Minestrone

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 leek, sliced
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 1 zucchini, thinly sliced
• 4 ounces green beans, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 2 stalks celery, thinly sliced
• 1 1/2 quarts vegetable stock
• 1 pound chopped tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
• 1 (15 ounce) can cannellini beans, with liquid
• 1/4 cup elbow macaroni
• salt and ground black pepper to taste

Directions

Heat olive oil in a large saucepan, over medium heat. Add leek, carrots, zucchini, green beans and celery. Cover, and reduce heat to low. Cook for 15 minutes, shaking the pan occasionally.Stir in the stock, tomatoes and thyme. Bring to a boil, then replace the lid, and reduce heat to low; simmer gently for 30 minutes.Stir in the cannellini beans with liquid and pasta. Simmer for an additional 10 minutes, or until pasta is al dente. Season with salt and pepper to taste before serving.

 hello! fresh garden thyme.

yum.

i used chicken broth instead of veggie broth and i didn't have green beans either.

i also used flax seed pasta{quinoa pasta is amazing, too} to health it up even more.

oh yah!  i used black beans and chick peas because i didn't have the other kind.  sorry if that messes you up.

my kids LOVED it and asked if i would make it everyday.  go figure.

then to mess with my mind because my 10 year old LOVES to bake,

she asked me if she could make some biscuits to go with it.

hrrrmphhh.  i am trying to avoid bread completely unless it's sprouted, but i gave in and allowed her to work her magic.

these were SO easy and i had her substitute half of the flour for whole wheat{the other half was whole wheat white} and we used raw goats milk instead of dairy.  

did i  mention that my neighbors and friends got three milking goats?   SAWEEET!  

we get free fresh goats milk whenever we want!

Cheesy Biscuits

2 c. flour{half whole wheat/half whole wheat white}

1/3 c. coconut oil
3 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
3/4 c. milk{dairy/goat/soy}
1/4 c. vermont organic cheddar cheese

Put flour in bowl. Cut in oil. Add baking powder, salt, milk and grated cheese. Stir the mixture just enough for the ingredients to be combined.   Drop by tablespoon-fulls{?} on a cookie sheet.   Preheat oven to 450 degrees and bake for 10 minutes or until done.

add sprigs of thyme and pretend your fancy, even though you are wearing sweaty running gear and using paper plates.

in less than an hour, we had a homemade, healthy{er} supper.

i hope you try it!

i'm off {again!} to a birthday party for my nephews.

i was up into the wee hours sewing 'adventure bags' for them.

i sure hope they like them and i hope to take some more pics and post about them soon{ish}.  :)

you know me though...misshardtofollowthrough.  

have an absolutely wonderful weekend!!!

xo,

mary

heading over to Becky's!