Kidney Bean Tomato Soup

Inspired by a vegetable soup that rescued me on a freezing cold day in Troy, NY, I wanted a hearty lunch soup to offset the snow cover that still clings to our little North facing slope upstate. This is where it is wonderful to have a pressure cooker, in order to turn organic dry beans into whatever quantity you want or need in half an hour! If you don't have a pressure cooker, you have to soak the beans and cook them much much longer, or resort to a can of organic beans - which I do, oh yes, I do, when that's the way to get what I want!  My freezer has a bag of whole plum tomatoes that I just literally threw in a plastic freezer bag last summer when they were $8 per bushel ... (I highly recommend doing this, and as soon as they begin to heat in a little water, the skins peel right off). I also have a couple frozen bags of sweet summer corn that I cut off the cob in the height of the season. Feel free to make this with store-bought frozen corn, and a small can of whole or crushed plum tomatoes. You can add chili peppers and more heat in all kinds of ways, but it was good just like this, with a dash of tabasco or other hot sauce to meet each person's tastes.

Kidney Bean Tomato Soup (makes 2 quarts)

1.5 cups dry organic kidney beans, cooked
1 6 oz can tomato paste
2-3 frozen, fresh or canned plum tomatoes
2 medium-large carrots, sliced diagonally
3-4 cloves garlic, smashed and chopped
3-4 small stalks celery, roughly chopped
3 small onions, rough chopped diagonally
1 cup frozen corn kernels
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp thyme (dry)
pinches of sage, rosemary, chili powder or whatever you like
1/2 tsp salt

1. Cook the kidney beans. I did this in a pressure cooker with a chunk of ginger, smashed garlic, a couple dried twigs of sage and rosemary. It amounts to at least 3 cups of beans, which you can get from a can too.
2. In a soup pot, bring to a boil about 2 cups of water, with the garlic, celery, onions, carrots, plum tomatoes,  tomato paste, and herbs.  Simmer this, with a cocked lid, for about 35 minutes, adding more water as it cooks down.
3. Add the kidney beans, the corn and the pepper flakes, plus salt, and cook another 10 minutes. Serve with an array of hot sauces if that's your thing, or even fresh chopped cilantro or onion.

I make a meal out of a pint, adding savory cornbread muffins and a salad. You can definitely eat less of this and have it with rice, other grain or potato based dishes. The large slabs of carrot give a nice color and texture alongside the dark red beans and bright yellow corn kernels. It is filling and pretty!

Red Bean Tomato Soup

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size: 1 pint (538g)

Amount Per Serving		% Daily Value*
Calories	322	16%
Total Fat	2g	2%
Saturated Fat	0g	1%
Trans Fat	0g
Cholesterol		0%
Sodium	644mg	27%
Total Carbohydrate	63g	21%
Dietary Fiber	14g	58%
Sugars	13g	0%
Protein	19g	37%

Vitamin A	19%	•	Vitamin C	41%
Calcium	11%	•	Iron	33%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calories needs.Courtesy of cronometer.com using my data.