Bean soup

I threw this together tonight and it turned out really good. Should be pretty good for us too. This is what I used, but use what you have in stock.

I used can beans except for the lentils. We soaked the lentils over night. I think doing this again I would pre-cook the lentils a bit as they still seemed a bit tough. If you want to use dry beans make sure you soak them over night. Don’t forget to check for stones as sometimes dry beans have little stones in the bag. Can beans are fine really. You can get them pretty cheap too.

I finely chopped 1 onion, 1 yellow bell pepper, and several stocks of celery. I would of added Carrots but they where past their sell by date for sure. I then sweated them in olive oil for a good 10 mins. Make sure that they are sweated down.

To the sweating veg I added the spices. I used about a tablespoon of dried parsley,  a tablespoon or a bit more of dried Thyme, and about a 1/4 tsp or so of ground coriander seed and about 1 tsp of salt. I always try and add the spice to the oil. Its seems to make the oil infused and the whole thing comes out better.

I then added the beans.

The pre-soaked lentils ( 1 quarter of a small bag. It really makes a lot) 2 cans of Cannelloni beans, a can of red kidney beans, a small can of mixed beans. Really you can use any beans you like. I love the cannelloni beans and I love butter beans. They are white and light in flavour.

I poured a pre-boiled kettle of water over the beans and added about 4 or 5 vegetable oxo cubes. I covered the beans but didn’t add a ton of water above the bean line.

I boiled it for about 40 mins. It turned out really tasty.  The beans seem to naturally thicken the stock. Just make sure that you stir it so nothing sticks or burns to the bottom of the pan.

Carrot and Coriander Soup- Healthy

This is a very easy and very healthy recipe.  No fat and very low calorie… if that. Great if you have a bag of carrots that need to be used up. Tasty and great on Weight Watchers I am sure.

Carrots, coriander, oxo cubes, water.

Buy a bag of carrots. Peel them and cut them into small chunks. Put them in a pot. This will be about the amount of soup so the more people the more carrots. Next, cover the carrots with water or broth. Just over the top of the carrots or its to runny.  Add some Oxo cubes to add a bit of depth to the flavor. Next add Coriander. Coriander is Cilantro for those of us in the Spanish speaking part of the world.   I like to use a big bunch of fresh, cut up and no stems. You can use dried too.  Add a little salt or Low Salt. Boil until the carrots are soft. Then let cool a bit. Get out your hand blender, or use a food processor, and blend smooth.

There you go. If you want to make it really rich and add calories and fat add some butter and cream. But I dont think it needs it.