I’ve started experimenting with beans recently because I don’t like to cook meat (probably because I’m not very good at it) and I’m on a budget and beans are super cheap! They have all sorts of health benefits especially if you use the dry beans and soak them before cooking. And I’ve found that beans are very versatile and really easy to prepare as long as you plan ahead.
Now, I’m certainly not an expert but Devan and I have enjoyed what I’ve made so far so here’s how I do it:
Lately I’ve been making soup with beans because it seems to be the quickest way to use them that I’ve found so far and it’s really yummy! They aren’t the prettiest soups I’ve seen but as long as they taste good, I don’t really care. 🙂
1. Choose what kind of bean you’d like to use. So far I’ve made a black bean soup and a white bean soup and a pinto bean soup. All are good. I think I may have liked the white bean soup best but the black bean soup or the pinto bean soup can also be used to top a salad with lettuce, tomatoes, tortilla chips, and some type of crumbly cheese and it’s kind of like taco salad.
2. Measure out two cups of beans and rinse them and then dump them into a crock pot and pour quite a bit of water on them. I don’t know if it makes a difference but I use hot water (not boiled or anything –just hot) and I pour in something like 7 cups. I always add a pinch of baking soda as well because we have really hard water and I’ve heard that the baking soda will help the beans soften more in hard water. DO NOT TURN THE CROCK POT ON! Just let the beans soak in the crock pot that is OFF overnight.
3. In the morning drain the beans and rinse them well. The soaking and the rinsing helps get rid of whatever it is in beans that causes flatulence.
4. Put the beans back in the crock pot and add vegetables. For my black bean soup I added a couple of diced chili peppers, some celery (maybe 2 stalks) cut into little pieces, a diced onion, and some minced garlic. For my white bean soup and pinto bean soup I added half a head of cauliflower (cut into little trees), 2 stalks of celery, and a diced red bell pepper.
5. Add about 4 cups of broth (I like beef broth with the black beans and pinto beans and chicken broth for the white beans). You can use homemade broth or stuff that you bought from the store. Of course homemade is healthier but sometimes I succumb to the store bought stuff. For gluten free you can use the Better Than Bouillon concentrated bases and dissolve some in 4 cups of water for your broth.
6. Add your desired seasonings. Pepper, salt (if you used homemade broth), onion powder if you didn’t use an onion, garlic powder if you didn’t use garlic, cilantro works well with black beans and pinto beans, cumin works well with them all as well as chili powder. I believe I also added lime juice to the black bean soup. Just have fun and experiment with the seasonings but remember you can always add more but you can’t take out what you’ve put in. That being said, I usually use A LOT of spices. I like my food with a lot of flavor. 🙂
7. Add enough water to fill up the rest of the crock pot but still save room to put the lid on. Turn the crock pot on low and go to work. When you come home at the end of the day it will be ready to eat! 🙂
8. For my black bean soup I took out a little less than half of the soup and pureed it in the blender and then added it back into the soup so it was a bit creamier. For the white bean soup and the pinto bean soup I didn’t have to do that because the cauliflower got really soft while cooking and broke down into creaminess. 🙂
9. Eat and enjoy! If you make some brown rice you can add a little bit to your soup to make it heartier and more of a complete protein. I like this soup because it can be different every time depending on the beans and veggies you have around. You can also dump in some frozen veggies if you don’t have fresh. I love variety, simplicity, and health and this meal does all that for me. 🙂