Snow day today in Seattle, which means I'm not going to post the recipe for a salad that I particularly love. I will save it for a warmer day.... today we need SOUP!
My husband loves Campbell's "Bean with Bacon" soup.... loves, loves, loves it! It's very darling, especially because he kind of looks like a Campbell's soup kid with his cute smile and his pink cheeks. Ha ha ha, he will hate that I said that! But, I believe I will be forgiven knowing how much he loves my Bean with Bacon soup! I think, after a number of years of making this, I may have perfected it.
This soup is simple and cheap to make; It is so easy and satisfying too!
This recipe makes enough for 6 servings, but the recipe would be easy to double for bigger crowds and should still fit into most 5 qt. crockpots. This soup also freezes well.
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup dried small white beans
6 cups water, or chicken stock
2 carrots, minced
2 stalks celery, minced
1 med onion,minced
1 15oz. can of diced tomatoes
1/2 lb. bacon, diced
1 Tbsp chicken base, or a couple bouillion cubes if not using chicken stock
Salt & Pepper to taste
Add the dried beans and the water/stock into a crockpot.
Cut up half a pound of bacon into small 1/4" pieces.
***This is lots easier if you throw the whole package into the freezer for 15 minutes before you start!
Fry up the bacon until its starting to cook up and releasing the fat. Drain the bacon and then add the pieces to the soup. You don't need to cook the bacon until it's crisp, because it's going in the soup for hours, it won't stay crisp anyways.
In a food processor, or by hand, mince the carrots, onions and celery.
Add to the crockpot. Add the canned diced tomatoes, including juice.
***Don't add any seasoning to the soup until later on. Adding salt to cooking beans can make them tough.
Cook for about 6 hours on High in your crockpot. Test a bean or two to make sure they are tender and cooked through. Add chicken base, salt and pepper as desired. I also used a potato masher to mash up about 1/4 of the beans to give the soup some body, but it's not necessary if you prefer the beans whole. This soup could also be cooked longer on a lower setting in your crockpot if you want to cook this while you are at work all day.
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Another way to thicken the soup is to add mashed potatoes.
ReplyDeleteIf you have any leftover mashed potatoes, you can freeze it in plastic zip bags for soup use at some later date.
Great idea! I need to try freezing some of the leftovers. Also, I have used instant mashed potatoes to thicken soups as well.
DeleteAnything you can do, I can do - and I'm kidding. Your formula was one of 6+ that I consulted before making this soup - the Third time (One and Two were just fine, but needed more flavor.) Just because I'm cheap, I use soaked dry beans. A tad more garlic and tomato paste, and I use a (God Forbid !) a Pressure cooker. I takes all of 20 minutes. Thanks for this wonderful post.
ReplyDelete**As I write, I've got a small pot of this sou[ in my pressure cooker. Total time at pressure is 20" After the lid off the soup will get two quick passes with a stick blender ansddd then - EAT!
What a great (fast) idea... I really, really need to get a pressure cooker. I'm glad you like the recipe... more garlic and tomato paste? YES, please!!!
DeleteI was coming to report that I adapted this recipe for my pressure cooker, but I see that Cedarglen beat me to it - two years ago! Tonight I discovered after getting started that my kids had given all of my diced tomatoes away to the food bank. I had a handful of grape tomatoes that were starting to shrivel, so I quarter them and added them along with a 5.5 ounce can of V8 juice. (If you've got it, cook it - am I right?).
ReplyDeleteSusie, thanks for posting this. I happen to know I am getting a pressure cooker for Christmas (don't ask me how I know...!)so I need to try my own recipe in it! Super excited as I have never owned one.
DeleteI love how you improvised, I find I do the same thing with those little grape tomatoes as they do tend to get wrinkly quick. You got the right idea! Merry Christmas to you and your family.
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