Best Bean Soup Ever!

Ok, I know what you're thinking....bean soup....how boring. I promise you, this was anything but boring. Nathan and I just got back from spending a few days in a hotel and eating out the whole time, which was not very healthy to say the least, and I just felt like poo. Food really has a huge effect on how you feel! I wanted to cook something, so I could control the ingredients, and control how I felt. However, I wasn't feeling very motivated to make the trek down the six flights of stairs it takes to leave the apartment.

What does that mean? Well, I went shopping in my kitchen! I found some beans, an onion, garlic, chicken stock....why not try to make bean soup? No, as simple and easy as this sounds, I have never made bean soup before. That wasn't going to stop me. Did I look up a recipe? Nah! Here is what I came up with:

Ingredients-
1 red onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 can of organic butter beans
Half of a 1 quart box of organic chicken or vegetable stock
organic extra virgin olive oil- first cold pressed
Oregano
Black pepper
Salt- Eden or any kind of good real sea salt

First a note about the ingredients. Good ingredients are essential for good food- period. Don't get the cheap stuff, just because its cheap. It will have less flavor and contain less nutrients. Get the highest quality ingredients you can find. If you can do local food from the farmers market, or better yet, fresh from your garden, that is fantastic! Do organic if you can. Buy real salt. I mean the salt that looks like real salt. I like Eden's Sea Salt, but there are a lot of others....just not the one with the girl in the raincoat on the container, please. Buy the pepper that you have to freshly crack. Make your own chicken stock, and freeze it for later. You see what I'm saying? I cannot stress this enough. Now, having said this, my beans were from a can, but they were organic. I bought my garlic and onions from the grocery store, and I didn't make my own organic chicken stock. So....we can't be perfect all of the time.

Ok....now for the cooking part. This was so easy that I did it in the morning when my eyes were barely open! First, open the can of beans and rinse them very, very well. See all of that foam? That will give you gas, so rinse away! Next, dice the onion. I had a giant red onion, so I only used half of it. Now, heat the olive oil in a pot, and throw the onion in. While the onion is cooking, mince the garlic. If you see any green stem-like things in the middle of your garlic, take it out and throw the "stem" away. When the onion is translucent, throw the garlic in and cook for about a minute. Pay attention, because if you burn the onion or the garlic, you will have to throw it all away and start over again, and that will suck. Next, put the beans and stir everything together. Add salt, pepper and oregano to taste. ALWAYS TASTE!

Remember when you read any recipe, that it's hard to say how much of something you will need. It always varies. You could have a large onion or a small onion, fresh or dried oregano, the taste of your produce can be great and flavorful, or not.....always taste and use a recipe in cooking as a suggestion. Of course, I guess, this doesn't apply to baking, but that's why I don't bake. It's too precise and unforgiving for me. I like to improvise along the way.....feels more creative and fun.

Back to the soup.....add the chicken stock, taste and re-season, cover and simmer on the lowest of low heat for three hours. You may not have to do this for three hours, but I'm sure any amount of simmering will help improve the taste of the soup.

That's it! I made this in the middle of a heat wave in July, which is not the most appropriate thing to do. I bet this would taste even better on a cold winter day.