Hearty Vegetable Bean Soup

Christmas season at the Rivera house begins the first weekend of December, and it begins with lights. Roberto has been stringing lights on the Maryvale house since 1988 — the same house, the same routine, the same insistence on doing it himself even though he's sixty and his balance isn't what it was. This year I told him I'd help. He said he didn't need help. Elena called me and said, "He needs help." I went.

We spent Saturday afternoon on ladders — Roberto on the low sections, me on the roof (Captain's orders, I told him, pulling rank for the first time in a non-professional context). The lights are the old kind, the big colored bulbs, because Roberto considers LED Christmas lights to be "soulless" and I'm not in a position to argue. We strung them along the roofline, the porch, and the lemon tree in the backyard. Elena supervised from the driveway with hot chocolate and a steady stream of corrections: "Higher on the left. No, the other left. Roberto, that's crooked." Roberto muttered in Spanish. I pretended not to hear.

By dusk, the Maryvale house was glowing. Every house on the street had lights — the neighborhood goes hard for Christmas, always has — and standing on the sidewalk looking at my childhood home lit up in red and green and blue, I felt something I don't have a word for. Nostalgia isn't right. It's bigger than nostalgia. It's the feeling of a place that made you, still making you, still holding you, even as the man who built it gets a little slower every year.

At our house, Jessica handles the indoor decorating — the tree, the stockings, the advent calendar that Sofia is already raiding — and I handle the outdoor. I strung lights along the ramada and the grill area because Marcus Rivera celebrates Christmas and Marcus Rivera's grill celebrates Christmas. The smoker has a string of lights on it. Jessica says this is excessive. I say it's festive.

Sofia is deep into Christmas mode. She has a list. The list has been revised seven times. Current top item: "a real fire truck." I've explained that Santa has limitations. She's not convinced. Diego wants nothing because Diego is sixteen months old and doesn't understand the concept, but if he could express a preference, it would probably be: more food, bigger pots to bang, and a dinosaur the size of a horse. I'm working on two out of three.

Made pozole verde this week — the green version, with tomatillos and pepitas and cilantro. It's lighter than the red pozole but just as warming, and on a December night in Phoenix (sixty degrees, which for us is practically tundra), a bowl of pozole verde with warm tortillas and a squeeze of lime is the only reasonable dinner.

After a day on ladders in the December cold—relative cold, anyway; sixty degrees is practically tundra when you’re used to Phoenix summers—with Roberto muttering in Spanish and Elena correcting our work from the driveway, I needed a dinner that did what the lights did for the front of that house: made everything feel warm and whole. This hearty vegetable bean soup has been my go-to for exactly those nights. It’s the kind of pot that fills the kitchen with steam and keeps Sofia coming back for a second bowl and makes Diego bang his spoon like he’s conducting something. It belongs to the season the same way the big colored bulbs do—no substitutes accepted.

Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 40 minutes | Total Time: 55 minutes | Servings: 6

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 medium carrots, peeled and sliced into coins
2 stalks celery, sliced
1 medium zucchini, diced
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, with juices
2 cans (15 oz each) cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
4 cups vegetable broth
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 cups chopped kale or baby spinach
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Fresh parsley, chopped, for serving
Warm tortillas or crusty bread, for serving

Instructions

Build the base. Heat olive oil in a large heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat. Add the onion and celery and cook, stirring occasionally, for 4 to 5 minutes until softened and translucent. Add garlic and stir for 1 minute until fragrant.
Add the vegetables. Stir in the carrots and zucchini. Cook for 3 minutes, stirring once or twice, until they begin to soften at the edges.
Build the broth. Pour in the diced tomatoes and vegetable broth. Add oregano, thyme, smoked paprika, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
Simmer with the beans. Stir in the cannellini beans. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer uncovered for 20 to 25 minutes, until the carrots are fork-tender and the broth has thickened slightly.
Finish with greens. Add the kale or spinach and stir until wilted, about 3 to 4 minutes. Squeeze in the lemon juice and taste for salt and pepper.
Serve. Ladle into bowls and top with fresh parsley. Serve alongside warm tortillas or crusty bread.

Nutrition (per serving)

Hearty Vegetable Bean Soup — The Bowl That Warms a December Night in Phoenix