Pasta e Fagioli: A Poor Man's Meal

I'm excited to announce that the Yogic Kitchen will be featuring recipes from guest yoga teachers! Today's recipe comes via guest blogger Cori Fratelli, a yoga teacher and mom from Colorado.

Cori Says:

While it may have seemed, at the time,  like my parents could afford the many luxuries of life, looking back I recall many hardships and I make the conclusion that my parents perhaps lived from paycheck to paycheck, like so many of the American population currently do. Time and again....well more specifically, several times a week, my father would cook us "the poor man's meal," as he called it. In my Italian neighborhood growing up, we called this dish Pasta e Fagioli, or pasta and beans. Today I make this meal for my family, and I recall my loving  father standing over the stove cooking this very same scrumptious meal for his family.

Ingredients:

1 clove of garlic, chopped
1 Tbsp. olive oil,
2 cups fresh spinach
1/4 of a red onion, sliced
1 can white beans, such as Great Northern or cannellini
1 box spaghetti

Cook it up

Cook pasta according to directions on package.

Meanwhile, saute the garlic until fragrant. Add the spinach, onion and cook until the spinach wilts. Add the beans and heat through. Finally, drain the spaghetti and toss with the spinach mixture, cook another 2 minutes.  Add in more olive oil, salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy!

Bean and Barley Soup

Soup is so easy, it's one of those things you kind of toss together, cook a while and then enjoy with leftovers enough to eat throughout the week or to freeze. If you haven't noticed, we eat a lot of soup 'round here. But this one is my go-to soup recipe for when the fridge is looking sparse or when I don't know what the heck else to cook tonight (which happens more than you think!)

I think this soup gets better the longer it sits, so leftovers the next day are twice as good!

Ingredients

1/4 cup each: dried white beans, black beans, pinto beans and kidney beans

1/2 cup barley
1/4 cup each: chopped celery and carrot
1 chopped onion
1 chopped red bell pepper
2 boxes of vegetable broth
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1 can or jar of stewed tomatoes
salt and pepper to taste

Quick soak your beans: place the beans in a stock pot and fill with water. Bring to a boil and cover, boil hard for 2 minutes. Turn heat off and leave covered, let sit at least 1 hour. Drain and rinse the beans, set aside.

Saute the vegetables and spices until fragrant and soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in the broth, tomatoes and beans and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for about an hour, or until the beans are tender.

Garnish as desired: I topped mine with a handful of fresh spinach and a tablespoon of chili sauce. The kids had theirs with shredded cheddar.