Recipes!

I have a couple of great soup recipes to share that I have made in the past couple of weeks. In order to make it to the blog, it must be family-approved and these are:)

First is Red Bean Soup with Andouille Sausage

2 TB. unsalted butter
1 large sweet onion, diced
3 stalks celery, diced
2 large cloves garlic, chopped
8 cups chicken broth
1 ham hock (I did not use this)
1 1/2 cups dried red kidney beans, soaked in cold water 1 hour, drained and rinsed OR 4 cans kidney beans (which I used to save on time!)
1 bay leaf
2 parsnips or 2 carrots, diced (I used carrots)
1 sweet potato, diced
1 medium regular potato, diced
1 pound Andouille smoked sausage or other smoked pork sausage, cute into 1/2-inch pieces
salt and pepper

Preparation: (The recipe calls for crockpot but I forgot so I had to make it on the stovetop and it worked fine!)

1. Melt butter in large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, celery, and garlic. Cook and stir 5 minutes. Place in a 5 or 6-quart crockpot. Add broth, ham hock (if using), kidney beans and bay leaf (never used one in my life!). Cover; cook on HIGH 2 hours.

2. Remove ham hock; discard. Add parsnips or carrots and potatoes. Cover; cook on HIGH 2 hours.

3. Add sausage. Cover; cook an additional 30 minutes or until heated through. Remove and discard bay leaf and season with salt and pepper.

To Make on Stovetop:

1. Melt butter in large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, celery and garlic. Cook and stir 5 minutes. Add parsnips or carrots and sauté another few minutes. Add broth, beans, potatoes, sausage and salt or pepper.

2. Cook on medium-low until beans are soft. If using canned beans, about 30 minutes. If using dried beans, 1 1/2-2 hours. Very tasty!

The other recipe is for Black Bean Soup. (I combined two recipes and found one that I like the best so far!)

1 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 celery ribs/stalks, diced
Oil or butter for sautéing
2 (32 oz) containers of chicken broth (I use the low-sodium, natural kind)
1 bag of dried black beans OR 4 cans of black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cumin
1 cup salsa (or more if you prefer)

Preparation:

1. If using dried beans (which I did), do a quick soak: Rinse beans, boil with 4 cups of water for 2 minutes, cover and remove from heat for 1 hour. Then proceed to soup!

2. Sauté onion, garlic and celery in oil or butter until tender. Add beans, salt, cumin and broth. Cook on medium-low until beans are softened. That will be 30 minutes for canned beans, 2 hours for dried beans. (Mine took the full 2 hours!). Stir in salsa and heat through for a minute and then enjoy!

Funny sidenote: I didn't realize I had accidentally used "medium salsa" instead of the mild that I usually buy until we all started eating. Eliana said, "My ears are spicy!!" It was a tad on the spicy side but everyone still loved it!! I  have made black bean soup several times and this was the best recipe yet!

Have a great night!