Spring Soups: Use It Up Spinach Pickle Soup!

Seasonal recipes are not just about what’s emerging to eat, but what you have left in the pantry. 

I still have lots of pickles, beans, dried grape leaves, dried daylily blooms… and in the freezer, frozen hot peppers and chopped greens I quickly put away before fall’s first frost. Perpetual spinach (a chard) is a garden favorite (and its wild alternative coming up now, which I use often but don’t freeze: lambsquarter). I have a huge casserole filled, still, so let’s use it up! This week we welcome days of rain, a perfect time to sow seeds and use up pantry and freezer food for spring soups!

“Spinach” Pickle Soup
Cook a small pot of beans (I used kidney & garbanzo). In another pot, add chicken into mayonnaise or a favorite fat, break it apart as it cooks, then chopped onions, perpetual spinach (chard, spinach, foraged lambsquarter, any savory green), chopped pickles (this jar was sliced pickles with onions) and some of its juice, minced hot peppers, then pour the beans in. Savory. Sweet. Tangy. Perfect for spring!

Chard is a great source of vitamins A, K, C, and magnesium. Lambsquarter is rich in A, C, K, B6, and folate.

Celebrating spring, here are some recent family moments from the country and city.

The next weeks are focused on using up jars of pantry food before canning season is in full swing. Dolmas, soups, canapes and cakes with jams, sauces with relish... eat it up, and rotate your pantry goods to keep your storage fresh!