White Bean Soup

Earlier this week I was craving my Grandmas bean soup so I tried making my own. Of course it's not the same as Grandmas soup, but it wasn't horrible either. Every thing that day took twice as long as it should had, and I had forgotten to text Adam to put the beans on heat. I used a maple bacon, chopped it up, threw it in my big pot and waited for it to fry. Except it didn't. It started to poach itself in.... maple water? So we drained it, I threw some oil in and cranked the heat as high as it would burn. Finally, some frying action. Beans were boiling away. Bacon was finally done, pulled it out poped in the veggies and spices, added in 3/4 of the beans... okay so here's where I got lazy.. instead of pulling out my food processor I used the masher to mash the beans. It wasn't the same, it never got that nice texture I like for bean soup. We decieded to add in all the bacon for a bean and bacon soup. It was bland eventhough I added a lot of salt and pepper, spices. Next time I suppose i'll just have to ask my Grandma to make some for me or use a ham bone or something. I don't know why I have such a hard time making soup, to me when I make soup doesn't matter what kind it is, it always taste like the same soup, weird.

White Bean Soup from www.about.com

Ingredients:

• 8 ounces dried Great Northern beans
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 3 slices bacon, chopped
• 1 cup minced onion
• 2 stalks celery, minced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• pepper, to taste
• salt, to taste
• 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Preparation:

Rinse and pick over the beans; soak beans overnight in cold water to cover. Cook bacon in a Dutch oven or stockpot over medium-low heat until crispy. Remove and reserve to use as a garnish, if desired. Increase heat to medium. Add onion, celery and garlic to the bacon fat. Sauté until tender. Add beans, chicken broth and bay leaf. Simmer until beans are tender, about 2 hours, adding additional stock or water as needed. When beans are cooked, remove bay leaf and discard. Puree 1/4 cup of the soup in a food processor or blender and return to pot. Adjust consistency with more stock or water if necessary. Season with lemon the juice, pepper and salt. Serve garnished with Parmesan cheese and crumbled bacon.
This white bean soup recipe makes 6 servings.