White Bean Soup with Peppers and Bacon

Photo courtesy of Rachel

Here's a cozy recipe to make now that the weather is actually acting like fall.  It's from Cooking Light, which is incidentally one of my favorite places to go recipe hunting.  Their recipes are written by registered dietitians with health in mind, but also taste!  I can honestly say that everything I've made from Cooking Light tastes like a normal recipe, and this soup is no exception.  

A few things...

It calls for bacon, and although I had a serious debate with myself in the store about whether to be true to the recipe or go with turkey bacon, in the end I went with fat-fat-fatty bacon!  The recipe calls for sauteing the vegetables in the bacon "drippings" and turkey bacon doesn't offer much in that department.  I rationalized the bacon and the fat with the fact that this soup is jam-packed with heart-healthy veggies and beans making it high in fiber and protein.   And at about 300 calories/cup, that's not too bad for a dinner.

That being said, this recipe was fairly time-intensive.  I don't know about you, but I'm pretty pathetic at chopping vegetables, so that is where the majority of my time was spent (I also doubled the recipe, which led to more chopping).  So, if you're going to give this soup a try (DO IT!) just know that it might take awhile before dinner is actually ready.  Some ideas I had for next time I make this?  Chop the vegetables the night before and use canned beans.  I really love the flavor of this soup--it's very different from traditional vegetable soups--and truly a perfect thing to sit down to when it's windy and rainy outside.   


Yield: 8 servings (serving size: 1 cup)

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2  cups  dried navy beans
• 5  bacon slices
• 2  cups  chopped red bell pepper
• 2  cups  chopped onion
• 1  cup  chopped carrot
• 1  teaspoon  sugar
• 1  teaspoon  onion powder
• 1  teaspoon  garlic powder
• 1/4  teaspoon  black pepper
• 1/8  teaspoon  ground red pepper
• 4  garlic cloves, minced
• 3  (16-ounce) cans fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
• 1/2  cup  chopped fresh parsley

 WHAT TO DO:

• Sort and wash beans; place in a large Dutch oven. Cover with water to 2 inches above beans; bring to a boil, and cook 2 minutes. Remove from heat; cover and let stand 1 hour. Drain beans.
• Cook the bacon in pan over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan; crumble and set aside. Add bell pepper and the next 8 ingredients (bell pepper through minced garlic) to drippings in pan; sauté 10 minutes or until browned. Stir in the broth, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Add beans. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat, and simmer 1 hour or until beans are tender.
• Place 3 cups of the bean mixture in a blender, and process until smooth. Return the pureéd mixture to pan. Stir in the bacon and parsley.
• Note: This soup will freeze well for up to two months. Pour into an airtight container, leaving enough room for expansion (usually an inch or two at the top). To reheat, thaw completely in the refrigerator; then place contents in a saucepan over low heat, adding some liquid if necessary.

And one more thing....if you've somehow misplaced your pioneer-style Dutch oven (like me), just cook the bacon in a pan, sautee the other stuff in the drippings, then transfer to a big pot to boil.   

Nutritional Information

Calories: 267 (30% from fat)

Fat: 9g (sat 3.2g,mono 3.8g,poly 1.3g)

Protein: 13.6g

Carbohydrate: 33.8g

Fiber: 5.9g

Cholesterol: 9mg

Iron: 3.6mg

Sodium: 479mg

Calcium: 87mg

Martha Condra and Jill Melton, M.S., R.D., Cooking Light, JANUARY 2000