Bean with Bacon Soup

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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