I am excited to bring you this guest post from my best friend, Tami! She is a mom of 3 who suddenly had to learn to cook from scratch when she moved to Africa! She could definitely teach me a thing or two…
Where we live, the price of food has increased, our family size has increased, but our salary hasn’t! This soup was an attempt to make myself really like eating white beans — really enjoy them. You can use as much or as little turkey/chicken, (raw/cooked) in this soup, and still get a great, hearty meal.
Ingredients:
1 cup boneless chicken or turkey
4 cups beans (I rehydrate dried ones and throw them straight into the freezer in portion-sized bag, so that I’ll actually use them) or 2 cans of beans
4 cups fresh pumpkin
2 chicken boullion cubes or broth
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, sliced
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp red pepper
1/2 tsp white pepper
After it is cooked:
Cream of chicken/veggie soup (optional)
Salt
To garnish:
Sour cream/natural yogurt/creme fraiche
Flat-leafed parsley, chopped
Toss into your slow cooker: the first set of ingredients (adding water, if you are using boullion cubes). I used a cup of raw turkey breast straight from the freezer. We love pumpkin, and I can buy it almost all year round (I don’t live in the USA), so peeled and chunked it, and my 4 yr old cut it into smaller pieces.
I cook this for 4 hours on medium or 6 on low, but cookers are all different, so just guess how long it will take for the meat get tender and the beans to get super soft.
When that has happened, take the meat out and shred it with a fork, and stir the soup so that the pumpkin (which has mostly just melted away) gets evenly distributed. Put the meat back in and add cream of something soup, if you want, and salt to taste.
I take creme fraiche and parsley to the table, because my kids enjoy putting it on the soup themselves.
Supper is ready!
Karla says
I’m excited to try this as I’ve just begun a search for good bean recipes…because I know it’s more inexpensive. Thank you.
Stacie says
You’re welcome! It’s my friend’s recipe…and I haven’t tried it yet, but it looks fairly easy!
michelle wimp says
one bean recipe i do all the time is super cheap and easy – and i’m sure you could do from scatch beans (but umm i don’t thats just how i roll and i’m lazy like that, lol!).
1 can of chili beans
2 cans of pork n beans
1/2 lb ground meat (or more or you can eliminate it’s up to you)
my mil adds a small can of tomatoe sauce but i find it too rich for my blood so i just eliminate it. my 6 yo luv luv luvs it!
Stacie says
Sounds good, Michelle! I’ll have to give it a try! 🙂