Bodacious Bean Soup

• servings: 8 servings

Ingredients

1/2 cup dried red kidney beans

1/2 cup dried great northern beans

1/2 cup dried pinto beans

1/2 cup dried navy beans

1/2 cup dried split green peas

1/2 cup dried lentils

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

1 garlic clove, chopped

1 celery stalk, chopped

2 carrots, peeled and sliced

2 quarts vegetable or chicken stock or canned low-sodium broth

1 (14.5-ounce) can crushed tomatoes

Salt and pepper

Grated cheddar cheese (Aaron's note: I'd recommend actually shredding your cheese so you don't accidentally add any grit from the cellulose powder on pre-shredded cheese)

Directions

Pick over all of the beans, peas, and lentils and soak overnight in a large soup pot with water to cover.

Drain the beans and rinse in cold water. Dry out the pot.

Heat the oil in the soup pot over medium heat.

Add the onion and garlic and sauté until soft and fragrant, about 5 minutes.

Add the celery and carrots and sauté 10 minutes more.

Add the vegetable stock, raise the heat, and bring to a boil.

Add the kidney beans, northern beans, pinto beans, navy beans, split green peas, lentils, and tomatoes and reduce the heat and simmer, covered until the beans are tender, about 1 hour.

Season with salt and pepper and serve with the cheese.

Notes

Dolly says: "All kinds of beans--red kidney, northern, pinto, navy--are in this soup, my kind of soup because I can decide if I want to soak the dried ones overnight like I did as a child, or open a bunch of cans, which makes it go a little faster. You can use one 14- to 15-ounce can for each kind of bean, pea, or lentil."