Souped Up and Souped Out

If you can't read it, the woman's saying, "Joe, this time if you sell the cow, don't settle for less than 17 beans." Cute, Trader Joe's.

I've recently been on a soup kick for lunches at work.  Since I've been feeling bored with the same old canned varieties from the grocery store, I figured I'd give this 17 Bean & Barley mix a try when I saw it at Trader Joe's the other week.  It really has 17 different types of beans in it, which I thought was enticing.  Here's the list of ingredients for the soup (you can also get a peek at the mix here too):

 

Here's what you do:

Soak the bean mix in a pot of water overnight.

Drain and rinse the beans, then put them back in the pot with 4 cups of the broth. 

In another pot, cook the celery, carrots, onion, basil, pepper, and garlic with the olive oil.  When tender, add them into the pot with the beans and stir in the rest of the ingredients.  Add more broth if desired.  Let the soup simmer for approximately 1 hour. 

Serve with some grated parmesan cheese.

 

I know this isn't the most photogenic meal (also, I later realized the settings for my camera weren't right) but it's a nice, hearty, satisfying soup with tons a of fiber and protein.  And it was easy!

For those bean fanatics out there, just in case you'd like to know, I typed up the list of beans in the soup:  baby lima beans, black turtle beans, blackeye peas, dark red kidney beans, garbanzo beans, great northern beans, green lentils, green split peas, large lima beans, light red kidney beans, navy beans, pink beans, pinto beans, red lentils, small red beans, small white beans, and yellow split peas.

I'm hoping it freezes well, because I have enough of this soup to last for a long while.