Great Northern White Bean Soup

I am a complete nut when it comes to cold-weather, glorious fall color, leaves falling from the trees, real wood fireplaces, fluffy cozy blankies, the smell of burning wood that hangs in the air, apple cider, all of the crisp apples that are in season, The skeletal form of a grand tree and snowy days…

When it starts getting cold outside I always plan ahead to make soup and stew. 

I am kind of known for them. 

I love them and there is something cathartic to me that you have your whole meal in one bowl.

You can control the amount of sodium, the ingredients, the flavor, added spice or heat…

Yesterday I got a craving for a split peas. I cannot tell you why because in the past I've never really been a fan of split peas.

I figure this is my body's way of telling me what it needs it during my health transformation and I have begun to listen to what it wants.

So off to Earth Fare I went to procure organic great White Northern beans, split peas, Japanese sweet potatoes and colored carrots.

This recipe turned out better than I thought. Although, I do not recommend mixing a smaller bean, they cook differently and will macerate into the soup while the Northern beans are still cooking. 

However in saying that, my soup turned out more like a stew because the small organic navy beans became part of the thickening agent.

Just kind of plan ahead if you're going to make this from scratch because the dried beans need to soak overnight.

I suppose you could to do canned beans in a pinch, but I do not recommend eating a lot of canned vegetables. 

Here is the recipe as follows:

2 cups of great Northern beans, dried, I prefer organic
1/2 cup of small white navy beans
Four medium carrots, I used purple yellow and orange carrot.

1/2 or 3/4 cup of split peas dried

Two small Japanese sweet potatoes

Four cloves of garlic, smashed

1 tablespoon of chili powder
Salt and pepper to taste.

Filtered water

*Additional add-ons: Sriracha sauce, Braggs apple cider vinegar with mother, sour cream, chopped chives. 

2 cups of great Northern beans, rinsed, to set in the crockpot the night before with plenty of water. Do not add salt.

Midmorning rinse off your beans really well, checking for any odd beans or stones.  

Refill the crockpot with filtered water, to make sure that they have at least 6 to 8 inches of water on top of them.

I was using the taller crockpot(which I do recommend) instead of the flatter oval one. They will expanded greatly and soak up a tremendous amount of water. 

Let cook for 4 to 6 hours on high in the crockpot.  

Add a few cloves of smashed garlic salt and pepper, I also use chili powder- about one heaping tablespoon.

When you have reached about 4 1/2 hours into the cooking time, add your sweet potato if desired or a thick starchy potato, your peeled and sliced carrots and about 3/4 cup of split peas.  

Taste to see if you need to add a little more salt or pepper to the beans.  

Let cook on high for about another hour and a half keeping lid on the crockpot tightly closed. After this amount of time I turn off the crockpot and let it sit for about 30 minutes before serving.

After I placed it into a bowl, I add about a half of a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar with mother in it. I prefer the Bragg's brand. 

My sons add Sriracha to it as well. Another member of my family adds a little bit of sour cream and I suppose you could also dress it with chives.  

It is very hearty, good for you and it took you really no time at all.

Enjoy!

Let me know if you tried this and tweaked the recipe a bit.

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