It's That Time of Year...

It's Christmas time!

Now that Thanksgiving is over, we can officially start celebrating the Christmas season. When I cruise through department stores and hear Johnny Mathis singing "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" and am overpowered by the smell of cinnamon, I no longer feel the same irritation I did in October when the Christmas decorations were popping up.

Nothing gives me greater pleasure than walking through the aisles of a store stressing out about what to get my mom only to turn the corner and see a large, bald and fiercely tatooed man whistling along to "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" playing over the loud speakers.

But this season also makes me nostalgic for the good ole days, particularly the high school days when my best friends, Loriana, Krista, Kelly, and I would drive around town singing Christmas songs in my parents Suburban looking at Christmas lights. Krista, the self-professed Christmas Dork, would man the radio and we would inevitably find ourselves in front of one of our classmates' houses that was above and beyond the best decorated. If it were to receive a high school superlative, it would be, "most likely to cause a car accident in the name of Christmas cheer".

This wasn't just any house decorated with a few strands of lights and pine wreaths. This house had a lawn ornament, and not just any lawn ornament - a 20 foot tall fiberglass Santa Claus that appeared out of nowhere as soon as you turned off the main road.

There is something special about watching snow fall on top of 20 feet of fiberglass festiveness while listening to NSYNC's Christmas album (which, by the way, is in my list of greatest Christmas albums, along with those by Mariah Carey, Amy Grant, Michael Buble, Bing Crosby, Manheim Steamroller and the Muppets). I will invite you to dinner if you can come up with a better list than that. However, if your list includes John Tesh, Gloria Estefan or Miley Cyrus, you will owe me a dinner for having terrible taste in music.

Well, one cure for nostalgia is good food and great company. So this Monday, I invted Bindi, the Veg, Alan, Valerie and Bina over for White Bean and Rosemary Soup from the Best Cookbook Ever with pesto grilled cheese sandwiches.

Alan, The Veg, Bindi, Bina, me, and Valerie

Not to brag, but this was meal fantastic. I'd definitely make it again. I won't have to for a while though since I have enough left over to last me through 2011. I made two versions of the soup: one with ham (from the cookbook) and a vegetarian one. The ham soup had a smokier, richer flavor and cooked faster than the vegetarian soup which had the lighter taste of tomatoes and required extra time in the crockpot to cook the beans thoroughly.

White Bean and Ham Soup

The meal was complemented by some, I'll call it, "colorful" conversation, and finished off with decadent chocolate cake/brownies that Valerie made.

Monday is quickly moving from the most dreaded day of the week to the most highly anticipated day of the week for me!

Here's the recipe...

White Bean and Rosemary Soup (I think White Bean and Ham Soup is a more fitting name)

Rinse and sift through 2 cups dried beans (I used Great Northern Beans). Soak in 8 cups water overnight. Or you can use 2 14-ounce cans small white beans, drained and rinsed in the recipe.

Heat 3 TB extra-virgin olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat.
Add 4 ounces of ham cut into 1/2 inch cubes (the recipe calls for spicy Italian ham or Capicola but this was $15/pound so I used regular ham)
Cook ham until it begins to get crisp, about 3 minutes.
Add the following ingredients and saute until the vegetables begin to soften:
   1 medium onion, chopped
   2 cloves garlic, minced (I used 3 cloves)
   3 stalks celery, chopped (I used 5 stalks)
   3 medium carrots, chopped (I used 6 carrots)
   2 tsp finely chopped fresh rosemary
Add one 14-ounce can crushed plum tomatoes

Transfer the contents of the skillet to the slow cooker insert. Stir in the beans and 6 cups chicken broth.

Cover the slow cooker and cook on low for 8-9 hours until beans are tender.

Note: For vegetarian soup, substitute vegetable broth for chicken broth and cook for an additional 2 hours on low or cook on high for a few hours then switch to low. Season with salt and pepper.