Butter Bean Soup

This week, I was without many fresh vegetables--except for a bag of carrots that had sat in my fridge for at least two weeks. Therefore, I resolved to use four cans of vegetables that had been sitting in my pantry since I stocked up for Snowpocalypse 2011 in this week's soup. Yum. (A spin-off of a recipe I found on the back of Bush's can of butter beans.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups celery, finely chopped

1 cup carrots, finely chopped

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

4 cups water

2 cans (16 ounces) Bush's Best Butter Beans, drained

1 can (14 ounces) diced tomatoes

Salt and pepper to taste

First, cook your celery, carrots, and onion in oil until soft. (If you're cooking on your gas stove that doesn't drop much below high heat, this will take roughly six minutes.)

Add flour and cook for one minute. Then, gradually pour in the water and stir until smooth.

Add your remaining ingredients and bring the pot's contents to a boil.
Now, reduce your heat and let the soup simmer for 20 to 25 minutes.

If you're feeling brave (and healthy) add kale to the pot while the soup simmers... If I hadn't been short a trip to the grocery store or farmers' market, you can bet you'd see green blobs floating around in my bowl. Best part about the recipe: it makes enough for about five big bowls, meaning no cooking lunch for a week.