Wanda's Tuscan White Bean Soup

I tried a soup I found on line a few years back that was really bland. I cannot remember where I found the recipe as I just noted a few ingredients and that I wanted to play with the recipe to make it more flavorful.  I liked the main ingredients, beans, carrots, and squash, but it needed some real flavor and more to it to thicken it up for our clod Alaskan's winters. I have been working to come up with a version was richer and that had some real flavor, and was thick and filling for cold winter dinners. I think this version is it.  If I were to add anything to it it would be a sweet potato or two, which I may try the next time I make this soup.

Serves 4 - 5
 We usually have a nice bowl of soup each and put away two of the 16 ounce size Ziploc twist top bowls for our lunches, depending on how hungry we are a third serving goes in the Ziploc bowl or we split it and finish off the soup.

We do not eat bread generally, but I could see serving this with a nice thick crusted Ciabatta or Coppia Ferrarese bread.

RECIPE:
      Drain and rinse 2 - 3 cans of Canelli beans (white beans) and set aside for now. You can cook up 2 to 2 1/2 cups of dried beans and drain away the water preserving a about 1 cup of the liquid. If you choose to use dry beans you can soak them overnight and cook them all day in the crock pot or you can do the quick cook method, whatever works best for you.

     Chop and saute a nice big sweet onion, using just a tiny bit of olive oil. I do mine in the big pan I use for soup as it is also my crockpot pan.

     Shred 2 or 3 big carrots and toss them in with the sauteed onion in your soup pan.

      Chop 3-4 small baby white potatoes that you have scrubbed. (I leave the peels on, but that is optional) and add them to the sauteed onion and carrots mix.

    Cut a small to medium size butternut squash or sweet pumpkin, roughly 2 cups 3 cups, into 1" pieces, and add to the pot.

Put the following in the blender. I use my Vitamix.

    2   8-oz containers of vegetable broth, or if you prefer chicken broth.
    1 - 1 1/2 cans of beans, this thickens the broth.
    1 cup of water or the cup of liquid you reserved from cooking the dried beans.
    4+ cloves of garlic, peeled.
   1-3 tsps or more of each of the following spices: ( I cook by taste and some people like it milder than we do.)
          Italian Seasoning
          Rosemary
          Sage
          Oregano
          Basil
     Pepper to taste (I use Hot Shot, a red and black pepper mix.)
   
Blend well and add to the crockpot.

Add the beans that were set aside and let it cook overnight.

I usually put it together after dinner and let it cook all night and the next day until we are ready for dinner. It is a nice thick soup and very filling.

I used the Loss It App to figure out the following:

 344 calories
0.5 g Total Fat
106.1 mg Sodium
44 g Carbs
4.7 g Protein

Thoughts on Election 2016

I do not understand people who are reacting so violently to the election. I supported Gary Johnson and he lost, end of story. So what if Donald Trump won. It is what it is and we will deal with it. It is not the end of the world and no one died.

I for one am very grateful that Hillary did not win. I personally think that she would be worse for the country. She in my opinion was the worse of two evils and we would be going to hell in a hand basket faster with her in office than we have with Obama in office.

I did not have a mental breakdown and cry or march on the highway screaming he is not my president when Obama won. I personally was not at all happy the first time he won and even less happy the second time. He lied, he screwed up our insurance plans. You know the ones that WOULD NOT CHANGE; yet have had significant changes and loss of benefits. 

People need to accept that the public has spoken and the Electoral College has determined that Trump is our next president. They may not like it, but they have to live with it.

All these people who are over reacting and being all dramatic about leaving the country, and how it is the end of our country need to get over themselves. It is what it is and life goes on.  We do not always get our way, we do not all need a ribbon just because we participated, and we are going to have our feelings hurt on occasion, that's just life. GET OVER IT!

Life will go on, and people will adjust and may be, just maybe Trump will fix things.

I for one would love it if he got rid of welfare, or put strict limits of six months to one year and only twice in a lifetime on welfare.  Another limit should be that we will pay for up to two children, if you have more that is your problem, not ours. It is not the government's or my job to support you.  Also, states should work together to stop people from moving from state to state to keep collecting benefits when their benefits run out in one state.

I like Ben Carson's plan for insurance much better than Ovomit's garbage plan.  It puts responsibility back on the people where it belongs, not on the government. 

I think everyone just needs to grow up and put on his or her big girl panties and deal with it. The election is over and Trump won. It doesn't matter if you like it or not. It is a done deal and now you have to live with it. Get over yourself.