White Bean Soup

Here in Chambana, we have 4 inches of snow and haven't seen 20 degrees in a week. Is it the kind of weather that makes a person want to stay in bed all day, or maybe the couch covered in blankets? Only moving to eat more soup? Indeed, indeed.

Winter is when I fall back on all my thick soup and stew recipes. Most of them are geared towards work-week supper nights, when my husband and I both get home cold, tired, and way too poor to order food in. Enter: crock pot.

I know I talk about how magic this thing is all the time, and really I do, but it's truly incredible. Let me prove it to you with a succession of crock pot recipes.

(taken from *Vegetarian* by Linda Fraser, then crock-pot adapted by me)

White Bean Soup, serves 6

1-1/2 c. dry white beans (or a mix of white, garbanzo and lentil--this is forgiving soup)
1 bay leaf

Soak beans overnight (not lentils, if using). In the morning, drain, put in crock pot (adding lentils), cover with water by two inches, and add bay leaf. Cook on high 3 hours or until tender. Then drain again, discarding bay leaf. If you have an immersion/stick blender, then just set them aside. If not, puree half the beans in a food processor or blender, adding a little water as needed.

**Using two cans (for four cups) of white beans is entirely acceptable. Tastes nearly the same. Just drain and rinse the beans.**

5 T. olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
3 medium tomatoes, diced (or 1 can diced tomatoes and their juice)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 t. dried thyme
3 c. boiling water
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat the oil, and saute onion until it softens. Add carrot and celery, and cook for 5 minutes more.

Stir in tomatoes, thyme, and garlic. Bring back to a boil, then dump it all in the crock pot.

Pour boiling water into crock. Stir in the beans and the bean puree. Season with salt and pepper.

Cook on low 6 hours, or High for three. Puree at the end of cooking with a stick blender if the beans weren't already pureed.

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You have no idea how delicious this is. But trust me, it's exactly what you want to eat when the temperature drops.