SOUP-er Healthy Vegie Soup

[merryfl]

1 1/4 C dried white beans, soaked overnight
1 C dried black beans, soaked overnight
12 C water**, divided
1/3 C olive or coconut oil
2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
2 large bell pepper, any color, chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
1 small jicama**, peeled and chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)
1 bunch of chard**, coarsely chopped (about 1 cup)
1 - 2 Tbl fresh Cilantro, chopped (or 1 - 2 tsp dried cilantro)
4 cloves garlic, minced
Onion powder and Chipotle chili powder to taste

The recipe does NOT call for salt and pepper...I added it.

1. Rinse beans thoroughly. Place 6 cups of water and the beans in a large pot. Boil. Reduce heat to simmer for 1 hour or until tender.
2. Add remaining ingredients (including remaining 6 cups of water). Simmer for 30 minutes or until tender.
3. Leave chunky and enjoy, or puree in blender or with immersion blender.

**I used Chicken broth for 4 cups of the water
**I could not find jicama or chard, so substituted turnip and curly kale

I left half the soup chunky (for Lee) and pureed the other half for me (so I couldn't actually identify any of the strange vegies )

[Colleen-NC]

looks interesting~~I am NOT a fan of beans in any way shape or form (YUCK) so I will puree but Dan likes them so will leave them for him~ Will do what you did and puree half of it

[aero]

Looks good. A few tweaks to make it the way you want. I have been using coconut oil as a deep conditioner treatment on my hair and for my skin. I don't think I would use it here...olive oil.

Yep, think I would have to put some meat on the side for everyone else. Broth and parsley subs for me. I don't like too many beans either so would sub for the only kind I like like cannelini.

[merryfl]

The one disadvantage to the black beans is that it makes the pureed soup an "interesting" color (gray ). They are very nutritious, and I do like them, but I think next time I'll use pintos or cannelini.

[Toby]

Sounds wonderful! Why are there ** in a couple of the words? I'm trying to think what it could be to bleep it out?

My husband hates any kind of bean. But I could eat it and love it!

[merryfl]

Linda - the ** are to tell you to look at the footnotes marked with the same **. They aren't parts of words.

This soup is supposed to be sort of a palate cleanse...to remind you of what "real" food tastes like. It has no salt or pepper and tasted quite bland to me. I added salt at the table--quite a bit of it, to be honest