Gourmet Vegetable Bean Soup and Breadsticks

I have been craving a good, hearty vegetable soup lately as well as homemade bread straight from the oven.  So I pulled out a few recipes and got busy.  First I made a gourmet vegetable bean soup. I used a recipe from the side of a bean blend container I got at Costco.  Here is a picture so you can find it for yourself.

Gourmet Vegetable Bean Soup
1 lb Gourmet Bean Blend (about 3 cups)
     -If you don't have this I'm sure any bean blend will work
1 lb turkey Italian Sausage, sliced into 1 in. pieces
     -I used ground beef since it was all I had
1 large onion, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 12 oz can diced tomatoes
1 6 oz can tomato sauce
1/4 tsp hot red pepper flakes
2 bay leaves (didn't have any so I used dried parsley)
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
2 Tbs olive oil
8 cups water or chicken stock

Directions
In a stock pot, saute onion and sausage in olive oil until sausage is lightly browned.  Add garlic and bell peppers.  Saute and additional 2 minutes.  Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil, then simmer on low for 2-3 hrs.  Remove bay leaves.  Serve.

Notes: I would let the soup simmer for about 3 hrs.  I let it simmer for 2.5 hrs and the beans still needed more time to get soft.  Also, if you do not have chicken stock you can make it using boiling water and bullion cubes.  This is my favorite way of doing it because it saves room (you don't have a bunch of cans) and it tends to be cheaper.

This is what it looked like when it was done.
The recipe made a LOT of soup that will feed us for a couple of days.
Overall I'd say it's pretty healthy too!






Now for the bread!

For the Dough:
1 package active dry yeast
4 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
2 Tbs butter, softened
2 Tbs sugar
1 Tbs fine salt

For the Topping:
3 Tbs butter, melted
1/2 tsp kosher salt (table salt works fine too)
1/4 tsp garlic powder
Pinch of dried oregano

Directions
Make the dough: Place 1/4 cup warm water in a bowl of a mixer; sprinkle in the yeast and set aside until foamy, about 5 min.  Add the flour, butter, sugar, fine salt, and 1 1/4 cups plus 2 Tbs warm water; mix with the paddle attachment until a slightly sticky dough forms, 5 min.

Knead the dough by hand on a floured surface until very smooth and soft, 3 min.  Roll into a 2 foot long log; cut into 8 2-inch long pieces.  Knead each piece slightly  and shape into a 7 inch long breadstick; arrange 2 inches apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet.  Cover with a cloth; let rise in a warm spot until almost doubled, about 45 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Make the topping: brush the breadsticks with 1 1/2 Tbs of the butter and sprinkle with 1/4 tsp kosher salt.  Bake until lightly golden, about 15 minutes.  Meanwhile, combine the remaining 1/4 tsp salt w/ the garlic powder and oregano.  Brush the warm breadsticks with the remaining 1 1/2 Tbs melted butter and sprinkle with the flavored salt.

These turned out very buttery and soft with the right amount of saltiness and paired perfectly with the soup.  It also gave the house a wonderful baking bread smell that everyone loves.