Minted Pea Soup with White Bean Asparagus Bruschetta

This is a perfect light spring meal for when you’re feeling all vernal and stuff. All the green makes it soothing to the eyes and the smooth texture and surprisingly big taste of the soup make it easy on the palate.
I generally avoid having to lug out the blender but this soup is so easy I think it’s worth it. You also get double duty if you make the bean spread in the blender as well.
This meal has a lot of little prep parts to it and little cooking time, so you could cut the time in half if you had someone helping you. If you’re cooking on your own it will take about 50 minutes. Just make sure someone else does the dishes.

Serves: 2
Time: 50 minutes

Soup

1 small sweet onion (Vidalia or Spanish), diced
1 Tbl butter
1 10 oz package frozen baby peas or 2 cups fresh peas (I used the fancy organic frozen peas)
2 cups boxed veggie broth
1 Tbl chopped mint
½ tsp salt
sour cream, crème fraiche, or yogurt to top - optional

 White Bean Asparagus Bruschetta

1 loaf of french bread (I used wheat)
1 can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
¼ cup olive oil
1 clove garlic, chopped*
juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp thyme
1 bunch of asparagus, trimmed and cut diagonally into 3 inches pieces
salt and pepper to taste

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