White Bean Recipes
White beans are way up in the potassium foods heirarchy, with over 1100mg per cup of beans. The meat and vegetables just round off this first dish if white bean soup
2-3 16oz cans of white beans, half crushed (by hand or food processor) and half whole
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 thick cut bacon (more or less to taste)
4 sausages (any kind)
1 large onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, finely minced
2 carrots, diced
2 celery stalks, diced
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
1 teaspoon of sage
Salt and white pepper, to taste
2 cups chicken broth (carton or can)
Directions
Heat oil in a large, pan or pot over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, add sausages and bacon. Cook until bacon fat is melted and bacon is becoming brown with crisp edges.
Move the meat to one side, and add onion. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until onions become opaque. Then add carrots, celery and garlic. Saute a 2-3 minutes more, and then add spices, sage and parsley. Stir the ingredients together, and add the chicken broth.
Once the broth is hot, add all the beans, mashed and whole. Cook uncovered over low heat for 30 minutes, until soup is reduced to the desired consistency.
Keep soup warm until ready to serve.
[...] White Bean Recipes [...]
Why canned beans? It’s not hard to use dried beans, which are less processed and won’t have added sodium! I would never use canned beans. To easily convert, one can of beans equals 1/4 uncooked dried beans.
Why canned beans? It\’s not hard to use dried beans, which are less processed and won\’t have added sodium! I would never use canned beans. To easily convert, one can of beans equals 1/4 uncooked dried beans.
1/4 cup of dried beans equals one 16 oz. can of beans.
Right you are, Diane. I live in a place where beans are ridiculously expensive though, so I buy them in any package I can get a deal on. Recently, I have been using beans in a box, packed in Italy. Note I say packed, because you can never be certain where your canned product originates, especially in the US. I know, for example, that China exports dried beans – and I am intimately familiar with how difficult quality control can be in China. So yes, dried are better, but sometimes price, convenience and time come into play.
So far as conversion, I usually use between one half to one third. For example, 16oz canned beans would require 6-8 oz of dried. This seems to vary for the bean, and for the texture you’re going for though. The nice thing about soup is that you can really play with the quantities to get a taste you like. Thanks for the comment.