Spring soup & salad: Cranberry vinegarette and Spicy white bean soup

This week we've been trying a few new recipes on for size. Specifically, we've been looking for lighter fare to herald in the Springtime.

I've never been great at following recipes and this week's soup and salad were no different.

We took this salad greens and cranberry vinegarette recipe and altered it, using beets from the garden (or carrots or any other shredable veg) in place of the zucchini and substituting a 100% juice (cranberry plus apple and grape, I believe) for the cranberry cocktail. No corn syrup for us, please!

We paired that with Spicy White Bean Soup, adapted from a SparkPeople meal plan.

My version of Spicy White Bean Soup for 2

• Huge spoonful of minced garlic (and roughly chopped garlic greens too, if you have them)
• 1/4 of a large yellow onion
• 1-2 tsps grapeseed oil (or coconut or canola or olive, whatever you prefer)
• 3 cups of water
• .6 cup of wild rice
• 1 cup of navy beans (canned or previously cooked, any white bean will do)
• 1 cup of roughly chopped kale (or other braising green)
• Oregano, cumin, ground clove, cayenne, salt, and pepper

1. Saute the garlic and onion (and garlic greens) in oil.
2. Once the onions are soft, add the water, rice, and beans. Feel free to add more rice, but be sure to also add more water.
3. Season with the seasonings. I used a large dash of oregano and cayenne, and a pinch of everything else.
4. Simmer for about an hour. In the last few minutes, throw in the kale.

This soup is not very soupy. If you want more liquid, add more. It's also a good idea to keep an eye on the rice to make sure it doesn't need more liquid to cook properly.

We really enjoyed this soup & salad combo that used several of our CSA items (lettuce mix, beets, kale, and garlic greens).