Navy (white) Bean Soup

You can make this soup with any kind of bean, but I usually use Navy beans for it. If you want to cook this in the Crockpot, that's easy enough to do; just dump all the ingredients in the pot and cook on low for about 8 hours. Drop it in when you go to work, and when you come home, it will be done. You can add ham to this, but I usually don't. Add some cornbread, and it's a fine meal all on it's own.

Bean Soup
8 ounces (1/2 of 1 pound bag) Great Northern beans or Navy Beans
4 cups water
2 cups fresh spinach leaves or 1/2 cup frozen spinach
3 tomatoes, chopped, or 1 can diced tomatoes
2 potatoes, diced
2 carrots, diced
1 large onion, chopped fine
1/2 green pepper, chopped fine
1 or 2 stalks celery, chopped fine
Salt and pepper, to taste


In a kettle, cover beans with water; bring to a boil, reduce heat, then simmer for 30 minutes. Drain beans. Combine beans, more water, and remaining ingredients in kettle. Cook on medium low until beans are tender and have made a 'gravy', approximately 2 to 3 hours. If it doesn't seem thick enough, take out about 1 cup cooked beans and mash them and return to the pot. This will make the soup thicker and creamier. I add the salt in at the beginning of cooking time, but some people do not add it until beans are already cooked, saying that it makes them tough. I have never seen this, but you may leave the salt until the end if you prefer.

White Bean Dip

Beans are very nearly the perfect food. Pound for pound, they're the best protein buy for your dollar. They contain minerals and B vitamins, and they have no cholesterol, and no sodium. They're full of both soluble and insoluble fiber.

The American Dietetic Association recommends 25 to 30 grams of fiber per day, but most Americans take in about 11 grams. That's a significant deficit. With nine grams of fiber per cup, beans can significantly improve the fiber content of your diet.

And they taste great, too.

I usually cook beans up ahead of time and keep some in the frig, but I've included the canned amount in case you want to save time.

This dip great is to serve at parties or just to keep around as a snack. Highly nutritious and very delicious, it takes about a minute to make. Serve it with pita chips (Parmesan & Herb are my favorite kind) or cut up vegetables. You can use fresh parsley in place of the spinach, but I prefer the spinach.

White Bean Dip

1 15 ounce white beans, drained and rinsed
or 1 3/4 cup white beans
2 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1/3 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/4 cup fresh spinach, loosely packed
Salt
black pepper
1/2 teaspoon organic dried oregano


Place the beans, garlic, lime juice, olive oil, oregano, and spinach leaves in food processor or blender. Pulse until the mixture is coarsely chopped. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Transfer the bean puree to a bowl. Serve with pita chips or chopped vegetables.

Best Baked Beans Recipe

I love baked beans. Love them. I've experimented with several different recipes, and I've finally come to find one that I like the best, and this is it. If you want to make them vegetarian, leave out the bacon. By the way, 10 cups of cooked beans is a 2 lb package cooked. This recipe is easy to cut in half if you don't want to eat baked beans until they are coming out of your ears, but I've given you the large recipe because it's good for picnics, BBQ's and celebrations.

Baked Beans

10 cups cooked navy beans or other white beans
1 1/2 cups tomato juice
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
3/4 cup black coffee
1/2 cup ketchup
1/2 cup bourbon
4 slices bacon, chopped
1 tomato, peeled and chopped fine
1 onion, chopped
1 carrot, grated or chopped fine
1/2 half green or red pepper, chopped fine
2 tablespoons Molasses
2 tablespoons dry mustard


Preheat oven to 350ºF.

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl, then pour it into a baking dish. Bake, uncovered, about 1 1/2 hours until they have thickened and cooked down, with a skin just beginning to form on the top of the beans.

Black Bean Soup

This is a great, quick bean soup. You cut time by using canned black beans and refried beans, but don't add any extra salt. There's plenty in the canned beans. You can cut down on the salt content by using your own beans, or by rinsing the canned black beans.

This soup is wonderful on a cool night. I love soup, and this is one of my favorites. It's very filling and satisfying. I make a lot of my soups vegetarian, since I live with one, but you can always substitute chicken broth for the vegetable stock that I use, and you can add cubed ham if you want. It's good either way.

Black Bean Soup

1 teaspoon olive oil
2 cups salsa
2 15-ounce cans black beans, drained and rinsed
2 cups vegetable broth
1 16-ounce can refried beans
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, roughly chopped

Heat the oil in a saucepan or large pot over medium heat. Add all but 1/4 cup of the salsa and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes. Add the refried beans, black beans, and broth and bring to a simmer. Cook until warmed through, about 5 minutes. Ladle into bowls. Top with some of the remaining salsa and the sour cream and cilantro.

Black Beans and Rice

This is one of my favorite dishes. I serve it with chopped raw onions on the top, and lime wedges and avocado slices on the side. It's also great without the rice, and potatoes as a side dish. I roast them in the oven with olive oil and garlic. Great economical dish with wonderful taste.


Black Beans and Rice


Makes 7 Cups

* 1 lb. Dried Black Beans (3 cups)
* 8 cups Water
* 6 Cloves Garlic; Crushed
* 2 Tbs. Dried Oregano
* 1 Bay Leaf
* 2 tsp. Olive Oil
* 1 Large Onion; Chopped
* 1 Red Bell Pepper; Chopped
* 1 Tbs. Ground Cumin
* 1 Jalapeno Pepper; Seeded and Chopped
* 2 Tbs. Balsamic Vinegar
* 1 tsp. Salt
* Freshly Ground Black Pepper to Taste
* 2 cups Long-Grain White Rice


Soak beans in cold water overnight making sure all beans are covered by 2-inches of water.
Drain and rinse beans.
Place in a large soup pot or Dutch oven.
Add 4 cups of water, garlic, oregano, and bay leaf.
Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low. cover and simmer until beans are tender, approximately 2-hours.
Remove bay leaf and discard.
Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
Add onion and pepper, cook, stirring occasionally until softened for about 5-minutes.
Add cumin and jalapeno, cook, stirring until softened for approximately 1-minute more.
Stir onion mixture and vinegar into beans.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, bring remaining 4 cups of water and 1 tsp. salt to a boil.
Add rice, cover and reduce heat to low. simmer until rice is tender and liquid is absorbed, approximately 15 to 20-minutes.
Serve the beans over the rice with lime wedges on the side of the serving dish.

Garlic Lentils (Lehsuni Daal )

Lentils are very nutritious, filling, cook quickly, and are arguably the most flavorful of all the legumes. We've been eating them since prehistoric times, and as they're high in protein, they're often a staple of vegetarian meals.

And they're cheap.

This is an Indian dish, and it's very spicy. It makes a great dinner on a cold night, but I can eat it anytime, even in the summer. I love lentils. If you can't do without the meat, add some cubed ham or italian sausage.

Quick, easy, delicious, and economical. You can't get a better recipe than that.

Garlic Lentils (Lehsuni Daal)


* 1 cup lentils
* 3 cups water
* 2 tbsps olive oil
* Salt to taste
* 1 onion,finely chopped
* 1 tomato, finely chopped
* 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
* 1/2 tsp red pepper
* 3 tbsps butter
* 3 dried chilies, chopped
* 1 tsp cumin seeds
* 8-10 cloves of garlic


* Mix the lentils, water, olive oil, turmeric powder, red pepper, salt to taste, onion and tomato in a deep pan and boil till the lentils are very soft. Depending on if you're using fresh or dried lentils, it can take anywhere from 20 to 30 minutes.
* In another small pan, heat the butter and add the cumin seeds; they'll pop and sizzle.
* When they stop sizzling add the garlic and chilies and sautee until the garlic is lightly browned.
* Add spice mixture to the lentils and stir well.
* Serve with rice.

White Bean and Cherry Tomato Salad

This is a great salad to make for lunch, and it's particularly good this time of year because of the abundance of cherry tomatoes. They're sweet and tasty, and go perfectly with the light rosemary and parsley dressing. If you don't have cherry tomatoes, use very ripe tomatoes cut into small pieces, making sure to add the tomato juice to the mixture. It makes it better.

White Bean and Cherry Tomato Salad

1 large can of white beans, Great Northern or canelli beans, drained and rinsed or 2 cups white beans
1 pint cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley

Dressing
1/4 cup olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 sprig of fresh rosemary or 1/2 tsp dried rosemary
1 - 2 dashes Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 cup of lemon juice


Put the garlic and rosemary in olive oil in a small saucepan. Heat on medium until it begins to sizzle. Remove the pan from the heat and let sit for 20 minutes, allowing the rosemary and garlic to infuse in the oil.

Remove rosemary sprig (if using fresh) from the oil, discard. Remove the garlic from the oil, reserving the oil. Add the garlic, Worcestershire, Parmesan cheese, salt, pepper and lemon juice to a food processor or in a small bowl. Pulse until smooth if using processor. If mixing by hand, mash with fork and mix until smooth as possible.

In a serving bowl, add the garlic mixture to the beans until they are well coated. Let sit for a few minutes so that all the flavors combine. Mix in the reserved olive oil, tomatoes, and parsley.

Serves 6 to 8.