As requested by a few people, here is my bean with turkey bacon soup recipe. Like most of my personally developed recipes, it’s minimalistic. I like to try to create the best flavor with the least amount of ingredients—especially ones you can pronounce.
__2lbs Great Northern Beans, soaked overnight
__butter or oil for saute
__1 good sized onion, chopped
__1 medium celriac or a 3 stalks of celery, chopped
__4 medium carrots, chopped
__1 package of turkey bacon, chopped
__1 bay leaf
__2 quarts of chicken stock
OR
10 cups water & 1 heaping teaspoon of chicken goo (that gooey bouillon stuff)
__Salt & pepper
Flavoring:
This is my basic recipe, which I tweak based on my mood with each pot. Add additional herbs and such as you personally like.
Soaking: These beans are about the only ones I soak overnight. All other types I will soak for three days, changing the water every twelve hours. This helps alleviate some of the gastric problems beans are known for, Great Northern’s don’t bother me that way so they only get an overnight soaking.
Chopping: I like to chop the veggies and bacon to equal size of the beans. Personal preference, it looks pretty and it gives me a balanced bite in the bowl of the spoon. I’m a Libra, I’m big on balance.
In butter or oil of your choice, saute the veggies for a while, I like to make the onion limp. Then I add in the bacon and stir it over the eat for a few minutes.
Add in the bay leaf and the water. Bring to a boil and lower to simmer and cover for a few hours. Low and slow is best!
Taste the broth. If light in flavor, add in the bouillon, stir until blended and taste again. AFTER the bouillon has been added to your taste, then salt and pepper. Bouillon has a lot of sodium.
Now is a good time to add any additional herbs. Let them meld for 20 minutes then serve.
This cans beautifully. We’re empty-nesters and we’d founder if we at the whole pot. I picked up a small pressure canner that holds 7 pints or 4 quarts so it’s not an insanely complex task. This pot made 11 pints. So if we both fall victim to the plague at the same time, again, we won’t starve to death. It was sad, both in bed-ridden and we’d exhausted our supply of frozen dinners. There should be a rule that only one can be sick at a time.
