THE HEALTHIEST BEAN SOUP

January 8, 2008

The holidays are over and everyone’s pants are too tight. We’ve just spent 2 weeks in the company of food that glues itself to you if you just look at it.

Here’s a soup that does the opposite. You can eat a big bowl every day and still lose fat. You will also lose the water that is retained by eating salt and starch, so your face will look less puffy. I, for one, am tired of looking as though I slept on my face.

The recipe is very mix-and-match as you will see. The article entitled Foods That Fight Cancer introduced you to a book that changed my cooking and eating habits in ways that were very easy to incorporate. This recipe reflects the advice in that great book.

Beans, barley, and lentils.

Bean Soup

Ingredients

- 1 Tbsp. olive or canola oil (don’t leave this out; you need it to absorb the lycopene in the tomatoes)

- 1 onion, chopped

- 3 leeks, thinly sliced ( these taste like mild onions; buy leeks with a long white part ; cut off the green part; peel a layer or two off the white part; slice the white part lengthwise and fan it open a little to rinse it; slice it crosswise)

- 5 cloves garlic, minced (I know it looks like a lot, but you won’t even know it’s there) ; under no circumstances can you use garlic powder

- 1 Tbsp. curry powder (big cancer fighter)

- 1 Tbsp. (yes, that does say 1 Tablespoon) turmeric (bigger cancer fighter; won’t change the taste at all; go ahead and try some; it’s a little smokey but that’s it; it will make the whole soup very yellow)

- 1 tsp. cumin

- ¼ tsp salt (if you need it; I don’t add any because the canned tomatoes and beans are salted, and I dislike the taste of salt, and I do not want a puffy face from the water retention)

- ½ tsp fresh ground pepper (puh-lease, do grind peppercorns in a mill; do not use the pre-ground powder stuff; the taste can’t compare) (you need pepper to help the turmeric be absorbed, as per the cancer book, so don’t be shy)

- 1 28oz can tomatoes, diced, crushed, whole, your choice (I use No Salt Added)

- 1 5oz can tomato paste

- 4-6 cups water, depending on how much other stuff you add (depends on how much broth you like and how many grains you will add; you can always add more later)

- 2 Knorr Vegetable bouillon cubes (or not; if you don’t cook with them, just leave them out; you won’t notice their absence)

- 2 peppers chopped, any color is fine (I like red because I have a notion that they contain more antioxidants)

- 2 handfuls of chopped whatever-vegetable-you-have ; carrot, turnip, potato, sweet potato ; here’s a soup that never looks the same way twice!

- 5 stalks (could be 2, could be 7) celery, chopped; throw the leaves in too

- 1c of a grain, uncooked ; brown rice, barley, Kashi, quinoa ; with this much curry and garlic, who will be able to tell the difference??

- 2-3 cups of a cooked bean ; could be lentils (uncooked, in which case you add 1 cup of the dry lentils at the same time as the grains ; or cooked in a can, in which case you add them with the other canned beans) (the red kind is good for soup) ; could be red or white kidney beans, chick peas, black beans, all pre-cooked (canned) and well rinsed to get the salt off ; in this mixture, all these types of beans taste the same, so use whatever you have

- 3 cups of a green ; try kale, watercress, or spinach ; they’re all kind of fussy to get into your life but they’re incredibly healthy in many ways; this is an easy way to sneak them in with minimal work

- plain low fat yogurt – as a topping; optional, but tones it down if you find it spicy

Method

1. Get your biggest pot. I don’t cook in small quantities.
2. Saute the onion in the oil for a few minutes.
3. Add the leeks and garlic, cook 2 minutes.
4. Add the curry, cumin, and turmeric. Cook 2 minutes.
5. Dump in everything else in no particular order, except the cooked beans and the green. So you add the lentils now if you’re using the dried (uncooked version).
6. Simmer till the vegetables and grains (and lentils) are just done, maybe 25 minutes.
7. Add the cooked (canned) beans and the green. If you’re using canned lentils, add them now. Simmer 5 minutes more.

You will know you’re doing something good

Do my kids eat it? Nope.
Well, sometimes. They’ve seen it so much, it’s not very mysterious any more.

Do I care? Nope.

I make a big pot on Sunday and eat from it all week. All those spices discourage bacterial growth in the food.

This soup simply must be supremely healthy. After the Christmas eat-a-thon, this will get you back on track faster than anything else.

If you can make it healthier, I want to hear about it.

Posted by Christine Scaman | Filed Under Food & Recipes

Comments

2 Responses to “THE HEALTHIEST BEAN SOUP”

Christine on October 13th, 2008 2:02 pm

I just made my second batch of this soup…..just finished my first pot last night. It is delicious! I made it with soaked lentils, soaked brown rice and a frozen bag of chopped kale. I also added half a teaspoon of ground ginger. Yum! Thanks for a great recipe….although my 13 year old won’t touch the stuff; she doesn’t know what she is missing
Christine Scaman on October 13th, 2008 3:07 pm

Christine,

Excellent !! Glad you enjoy it. Also good to see that you feel free to adapt it. The ginger idea is great.

You’ve reminded me that I used to chop garlic and ginger together with one of those cylindrical choppers till they were pulverized together. Now why did I stop that? It was so easy.

This recipe is a little rugged for the canned-condensed-cream-of-whatever lovers, but your body can certainly tell you’re putting something special in. I love a “robust” soup that heats you up in winter.