As the temperature dips from the 100s to the 70s I find myself craving soup. Rich and thick bean soup that will be almost Bright Line compliant. Because I am going to cook some bacon to crumble up into the soup. Just a bit, just enough for the flavour. I'm also going to use ham hocks to make the base of the soup along with vegetable stock, carrots celery and onion, and a whole box of fresh baby spinach.
My intention is to be meticulous about weighing the proteins, so I will carefully separate out the ham after cooking the vegetables. After storing the base in the fridge overnight, in the morning I will be able to skim off the fat, blend up the veggies, then weigh the soup into bowls. To those I will weigh in the beans, ham, and bacon. I'm going to have to back into the measurements, weighing the ham and bacon first, then figuring out how many beans to add. (The white beans are currently in the instant pot.)
And all of a sudden it's all seeming way too complicated at this point. Which is probably why SPT doesn't eat soup - it's just not simple. Maybe that should be my strategy - how do I make this simple. Back when I did this the end of last year, I just made the pot of bean soup with tons of veggies and divided it into however many servings of beans there were in the bag.
Okay, deep breath. When the beans come out of the instant pot I'll divide them into 9 servings. After googling my reasoning is...1# of dried beans = 6 cups cooked beans, each cup should weigh about 8.5oz. 6x8.5=51 divided by 6oz servings is 8.5 servings. But I am going to add small amounts of ham and bacon to each serving so I am spreading the beans out over 9 servings. Then tomorrow after processing the veggies I'll add to the containers filling them up. Because I've been using the same glass containers for a year I know what a meal looks like. For my brain this works, and really that is the only 'rule' to Bright Line Eating. SPT likes to say there are no BLE Police. And that we should make sane choices based on what works for us. For me this recipe seems reasonable. Lots of whole plant foods spiced up with a little animal protein and fat; a compromise I can live with for now.
That being said I shouldn't feel guilty about heading into the kitchen to cook the bacon. It will be crisp, and drained, before adding it to the soup. And it's a small center cut package that will be spread out over 9 servings. Not even half an ounce each. Am I fine with that? Yes, I believe I am. Or is it the part of me that is excellent at rationalizing that is thinking this? Maybe, but I know myself well enough to know that restricting anything can set off my rebel part.
And now I'm thinking about the pig.
Well this has turned into a rambling mess, but I suppose that is what journaling is. What did I call this venture? Writing helps me Think?
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