Great Northern Soup

Meatless mealtimes begins...
I recently picked up a bag of great northern beans at the grocery store.

Lately, I have been trying to cook my own beans when I can, and then freeze them for easy use when I need them. It is much cheaper to buy them by the bag than in cans, and even though it takes up some freezer space the nutritional value is much higher when you make them yourself (less sodium).

I found a recipe for Great Northern Soup (courtesy of Yummly.com):

15 oz white beans

1 onion (chopped)

1 green bell pepper (chopped)

1 stalk celery (chopped)

1 carrot (chopped)

2 garlic cloves (minced)

1 tbsp oil

2 cups vegetable broth

12 cup orange juice

1 tsp soy sauce

12 tsp cumin

2 tbsp lemon juice

14 cup chives (fresh, chopped - optional, garnish only) 

Rinse and drain the beans. (If using canned beans, if making your own just drain.) In a saucepan, sauté the onions and other veggies in the oil until tender. Add the beans, broth, orange juice, soy sauce and cumin. Cover and simmer until everything is tender. Add lemon juice. Sprinkle the tops of the bowls with chives (if desired). Serve hot.

I added some leftover brown rice we had in the fridge to make it heartier. Someone (Ahem) in this family (of two) isn't very fond of soup unless its thick and chunky, hence the rice.

Overall, it was good, easy, and filling but a little bland for our tastes. It needed a little more zip, as J* said. We tried to add pepper and red pepper flakes but neither of those were the correct form of heat. I was thinking this would be really good with some Italian sausage cooked into it, however that defeats the purpose of this meal being meatless.