Make a gift basket of soup mix (don’t forget the instructions!) and homemade crackers. If you want, add mugs, soup bowls, holiday potholders, or a soup ladle.

French Market Soup Mix

1 lb. dried navy beans
1 lb. dried pinto beans
1 lb. dried Great Northern beans
1 lb. dried green split peas
1 lb. dried yellow split peas
1 lb. drieddried lentils
1 lb. dried black-eyed pea
1 lb. dried baby limas
1 lb. dried large limas
1 lb. dried black beans
1 lb. dried red beans
1 lb. dried soybeans
1 lb. dried barley pearls

Combine all ingredients. Spoon evenly into 14 1-pint jars or zipper-lock bags. Attach the following recipe.

French Market Soup

2 cups soup mix
2 quarts water
1 ham hock
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 (16 oz.) can whole tomatoes, undrained and chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 chili pepper, chopped
1/4 cup lemon juice

Wash beans; place in a Dutch oven. Cover with water 2″ above beans, and soak overnight. Drain beans; add 2 quarts water, ham hock, salt, and pepper. Cover and bring to a boil; recude heat and simmer 1 1/2 hours or until beans are tender. Add remaining ingredients; simmer 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Remove ham hock from soup. Remove meat from the bone, chop meat, and return it to the soup.

Makes 2 1/2 quarts.

Whole Wheat Crackers

1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
Butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix flours, sugar, baking soda and salt. Stir in buttermilk and oil. Shape dough into 6 balls.

Roll each ball into 9″ square on lightly floured cloth- covered board. (Be sure to roll out the dough as thinly as possible so the crackers will be crisp.) Cut into 2-1/4″ squares; brush with butter. Place squares on ungreased cookie sheet. Sprinkle with coarse salt.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until crisp and golden.

Make about 8 dozen.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 5th, 2006 at 12:50 am and is filed under Soups and Stews, Gifts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.