Crock pot soup

I’m on a mission to feed my family nutritious, tasty food, while focusing on ingredients I already have at home. During my recent fall food clean up I discovered a half used bag of mixed beans and decided it was time for soup. Soup is a staple at my house for at least nine months of the year. I admit, I don’t often feel inspired for soup in the midst of the heat of summer – at least not cooked soup.

I also found a bag of frozen tomatoes (hopefully they weren’t from too long ago – no sign of freezer burn) as well as some swiss chard, neatly chopped and preserved for some future recipe.

The beauty of soup is that you can really go crazy improvising. Almost anything goes. Here is what I did

• 1/3 bag (about 1 cup) of mixed dried beans – soaked overnight

In the morning I placed in my crock pot:
• 1 diced onion
• 3 cloves of garlic (who doesn’t love garlic?)
• Bag of frozen chopped tomatoes
• Bag of frozen swiss chard
• Vegetarian soup stock (I used two of my favorite vegan cubes)
• ½ cup of bulgur
• Some salt
• Some pepper
And let it cook on slow for about 5 hours.

The result was an amazing smelling house, and a warm, hearty simple soup. It reheats very well, and makes a great, satisfying lunch for me and my family. I’m happy to report, I made enough soup for at least 8 servings and at the same time created a little extra space in my freezer and cupboard!