Fresh Orange Cake and White Beans with Greens Soup

A surprise Sunday post! Aren't you impressed! I was thinking about how busy I'm going to be preparing for Thanksgiving dinner and thought I would get some recipes in early. I think I made the soup on Thursday and when I hit my 50k word goal for Nanowrimo on Saturday I made the Orange juice cake. It also turned out that the dinner appointment I was taking it to was a sneaky birthday dinner for my good friend Laura. Her birthday is actually Monday, but I didn't even know that! I'm such a bad friend. I was so relieved that I took one of my best and favorite cake recipes for her to enjoy.

I like this soup and this is actually the second time that I've made it. My family however does not like the way it looks with the greens floating in the broth. Kiah did try it and said it wasn't bad, except for the green stuff and the beans. That leaves just the broth people! *sighs* I keep trying though.

White Bean Soup with Greens

* 1 1/2 pounds Swiss Chard, escarole, or beet greens, trimmed (I've used turnip greens both times because that is what I could find. I also learned that trimmed means take the leafy part off the stem part. How is that for a technical explanation *wink* You don't have to chop it up because it will fall to pieces when you cook it.)
* 6 cups chicken broth (you can use vegetable broth to make it vegetarian)
* 1 clove garlic, crushed
* 1 cup cooked white beans (This time I used a can, but last time I made from dried beans
* 1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper
* Grated Parmesan cheese, for garnish (I used my favorite Asiago again, love that nutty flavor!)
* Red-pepper flakes, for garnish

1. Bring a large pat of water to a boil over med-high heat. Add the greens and cook for 7 minutes, or until barely tender. Drain the greens, squeezing out as much water as possible.

2. Bring the broth to a simmer in a large pot over med-high heat. Add the garlic and greens.

3. If using canned white beans, place them in a strainer and rinse them under cold water to remove excess sodium. Add the beans to the broth. Simmer gently for 10 minutes. Sprinkle the pepper to taste. (the recipe actually calls for salt to, but the first time I made it, it was way too salty. This time I did not add any salt and it was just fine, so if you add salt do it slowly.)

4. Ladle the sou into bowls and garnish with cheese and pepper flakes.

Makes 6 servings--79 calories, 2 g fat, 0mg cholesterol, 1,008mg sodium (The SB Diet cookbook, page 96.)

Fresh Orange Cake

Cake:
* 1 package yellow cake mix with pudding
* 1 cup fresh orange juice (use 100%, not from concentrate)
* 1/2 cup good vegetable oil (such as canola, corn, safflower, soybean, or sunflower)
* 1/4 cup granulated sugar
* 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (it is more expensive, but worth it)
* 4 large eggs

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly mist a Bundt pan with vegetable spray and then dust with flour. Shake out the excess flour.

2. Dump all the ingredients into a large bowl and blend with an electric mixer on low for 1 minute. Stop and scrape down the sides. Mix at med speed for 2 minutes more or until the batter looks thick and well blended. Pour into the pan.

3. Bake until golden brown and the cake just starts to pull away from the sides--45 to 47 minutes.

4. Let it cool on a rack for 20 minutes before removing it from the pan. Then cool completely before adding the glaze.

Note: This cake is very versatile. I've done it in a Bundt pan with the glaze that follows, and I've made it as a round cake with butter cream. A few times I've made a whipped cream/yogurt filling and added strawberries and pineapple (mmm, yummy!).

Glaze:
* 1 cup confectioners' sugar
* 3 tablespoons fresh orange juice

1. Mix and drizzle over cooled cake. I usually don't wait for it to cool and then I have to keep scooping up the glaze from the pan and pouring it over the cake again. So try to be more patient than me. :) (from the Cake Mix Doctor , pg 79)