Lima Bean Soup and The 6.5 mile Gwynn Creek Hike

Today we hiked the Gwynn Creek Trail to Cooks Ridge Trail then back to the Cape Perpetua Visitors Center. The trail was so beautiful and incredibly soft with the build up of pine needles and what not. The only worries you have are the roots across the path and there are many. We started the hike from the Visitors Center, 1 mile towards the Gwynn Creek Trail, from there we hiked 3 miles up Cooks Trail, and I mean up and up. Then 2.5 miles on the Cooks Ridge Trail back to the Vistors Center. Must remember this hike, maybe hike the reverse, would be much easier.

Ingredients:

1 cup of lima beans
8 cups of chicken broth
1/2 cup shredded chicken (do not have to add)
1 onion (chopped)
2 celery stalks (chopped)
1 large carrot (chopped)
1/2 bunch kale (chopped)
2 sprigs thyme
2 cloves garlic (shredded, use micro-plane)
1/2 teaspoon salt (maybe more to taste)
some pepper to taste

To prepare:

Soak 1 cup of beans for 24 hours. Drain and rinse the beans very well, making sure to remove any stones.

In heavy soup pot saute onions until translucent, add garlic cook approximately 1 minute stirring continously. Add carrots and celery. Add your beans, cook another few minutes. Add chicken broth. Add thyme, salt and pepper. Cook another 40 minutes or so until beans are tender. (Cooking depends on the beans) The older the beans the longer the cooking time. When beans are soft  add chicken, check your seasoning. Cook another 20 minutes. Check again for seasoning. Serve, enjoy.

Note to self: This is a typical soup recipe. Reason for mentioning is to remember how wonderful and buttery lima beans are. Must use more often. Can substitute most any bean or ingredient.