13 Bean Soup

This is perfect for a cold and dreary day. You may want to take some beano, or some probiotics to help you digest the beans. We want to be nice to our tummies so that they'll be nice to us and actually lose weight when we tell them to (that's right, I said tell them. Forget working out! One of these days my stomach will listen and respond as it should, resulting in a womanly six pack!)! You can probably cook this in the crock, too. I remember reading something about a slow cooker and beans... and I just might try to make this with canned beans instead of dry beans. But for now, this recipe calls for the dried kind.

Ingredients:

• 2 c. of 13 bean mix
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 tomato, puree (you can probably sub with some tomato sauce)
• 1 T. chili powder
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced OR 2 t. of garlic powder
• salt and pepper to taste
• mustard to taste (Dijon is fine. Nay, it's grrrrreat!)
• ham/ham hock/bacon or just beef bouillon, to taste

Directions:
1. Wash and soak beans overnight.
2. Rinse in the morning and boil with 10 c. water.
3. Reduce and simmer with 2-3 pieces of choice meat or bouillon until beans are tender. I don't know how much bouillon I end up using. I just keep testing it until it's just right...
4. Add onion, puree tomato, 1 T. chili powder, garlic, salt/pepper and mustard to taste (start with a squirt, then another, etc.).
5. Simmer until everything is cooked to perfection and then blend until smooth (I use a hand blender).
6. Serve with cornbread muffin mix and honey butter (equal parts butter and honey), or make some muffins from scratch you over achiever! You may also top with cheese if you'd like, the soup that is, although I'm not sure if I have.