Simple Herb Soup ~ Recipe Wednesday

So recently I discovered a show about a woman from England that has been living in Japan for 30 years! It's called Venetia's Diary. It is on NHK channel 2 on Sunday's at 6pm and it repeats on Tuesday's at 10:30am...if you do not live in Japan I believe there is way to watch the show online, just google Venetia's Diary.  She lives in a 100 year old farmhouse in Kyoto and shares her herbal knowledge and travels around Japan visiting artists. I LOVE THIS SHOW....even though 90% of this 30 minute show is in Japanese I love it! Venetia is a simple woman and she inspires me....living in Japan has not been the easiest transition for me over the last (almost) 7 years. I have fallen into depression, bitterness, negativity...basically everything I do not want to be. But...the last year of my life has brought great changes...I got pregnant, stopped teaching english, started meditating everyday, creating mandalas more, loving my time with my 6 year old daughter, learning more and more about compromise in marriage (probably the most challenging lesson) and I had a baby boy that I simply adore! BIG changes and change is not always easy...especially for me and my Capricorn ways. My point....this tv program has given me more hope and inspires me to want to stay in Japan...Venetia speaks simple Japanese that I understand and it is helping me learn this difficult language. What I love most is when she cooks....and this week she made a simple vegetable soup. I am going to share it with you...I have made a few changes since I did not have all the same herbs as Venetia, but my soup came out tasting delicious.

Ingredients

Diakon radish
Carrot
Chives ( I used にら a chinese chive)
1 celery stalk
A can of white beans ( or you can soak and cook your own)
Green beans
Thick bacon ( optional....I used it for flavoring)

Herbs: I bundled in cheesecloth a slice of lemon, some fresh thyme and some fresh lemon grass.

Fill a pot with water... put cut up carrots, diakon and celery in the pot with the bundled up herbs and simmer for 45 minutes.
I cooked my bacon up and put it in the simmering pot after the veggies simmered for about 30 minutes....the last 5 minutes I threw in the green beans and white beans. They both do not need to cook for long. Having a little crunch in your green bean is good....

At the end of cooking I added some salt and pepper to taste...topped with chives and took out the bundle of herbs.

It ended up snowing in our city ( happens once or twice in winter) so this soup was perfect for a snowy day. I also made some cheddar and chive biscuits that were a perfect match!

I hope you like this soup. Enjoy!