Monday, April 13, 2009

Homemade Vegetable Bean Soup


Here is another good way to incorporate the health benefits of beans into your family’s diet.

In a 6 quart cooking pot, begin with 4 cups of chicken broth
1 quart jar of home canned tomatoes or store bought crushed tomatoes. (When I can my tomatoes, I also dice green peppers and onions into the mixture before canning. But….that’s another blog entry)
1 cup of water
2 teaspoons salt
1 medium onion diced
7 cloves of fresh garlic crushed into the broth water
1 ½ teaspoons garlic pepper blend spice
1 teaspoon ground pepper
1/3 teaspoon celery seed or 1 cup diced fresh celery
1 ½ tablespoons Italian spices
1 can black beans ( no sugar added), rinsed and drained
1 can kidney beans rinsed and drained
1 can garbanzo beans rinsed and drained


Bring the pot to a boil. Lower heat to medium-low. If you have the time to allow it to simmer for a while, do so. It just enhances all the flavors. But in a pinch, you can do this great soup from stove to table in 30 minutes!

Just before time to serve, raise heat and add 4 cups of mixed vegetable. (peas, carrots, green beans, corn)

Add 3-4 large handfuls of fresh spinach. Stir into pot and cook until spinach is wilted and vegetables are tender.


Optional additions:
Chicken
Rice

This is a wonderfully heart healthy meal and satisfying too. There will be plenty for leftovers as well.



1 comment:

Dianne said...

This is great soup. We really enjoyed it. Thank you for sharing your recipe. Dianne Cobb