About five years or more ago, I went to the Wednesday night dinner that is no more. One time, the children had made us a gift of bean soup mix. There were ten kinds of beans, I think, and a flavor packet they made.
Fred and exbf both gave their soup mix to me. This is the last of the three mixes. I put it on Monday afternoon and almost burned it because I put too little water in the crock pot. I rescued it with more water, and finally put a 28 ounce can of Hunts Organic Crushed Tomatoes. They were reduced at Publix and a very good buy.
Finally, I added Super Blend from WM. It was $2.98 and reduced to $1.07. The Super Blend has finely chopped Brussel Sprouts, kohlrabi, broccoli, carrots, and kale. This concoction cost me less than $2 for the whole pot. I am quite sure there is more than a gallon. Tonight, Monday, I will cool it and put it in quart bags for him to thaw. There is no meat in it, so he can take one of his frozen meat packages and dump it in and stir when he thaws it in the microwave.
I am not quite sure what to call this unless it is Enhanced Bean Soup. While I have never cooked anything like this, it smells good, and the broth tastes good, but I will NOT be eating any. It is healthy.
When I tasted the soup broth, it had a bitter tomato can taste, you know, the kind of bitter tomatoes in a can will have. So, I added cinnamon. Since it was a large crock of soup, I sprinkled cinnamon again. At first, it was cinnamon flavored soup, so I let it simmer. Now, it smells and tastes like spaghetti with beans and vegetables. I wonder what he will think. ???
Hopefully, he will enjoy this. Do you ever start cooking and go crazy adding stuff you had not planned. Does this sound good to you? If you have ever used canned tomato products, do you ever find them bitter? Do you use cinnamon to get rid of the bitter taste? No, it not supposed to taste like cinnamon.
I go crazy all the time when making soup. I toss in a little of this and a little of that and then decide I want something else in it. I have never used cinnamon. Maybe because I use my home canned tomatoes that are never bitter. And maybe because I have never heard of using cinnamon to cut the bitter taste of tomatoes. :)
ReplyDeleteI use canned tomatoes all the time, but I season the heck out of them - like for soup, at minimum I add garlic, tumeric, smoked paprika, thyme, a dash of cumin and lemon or lime juice. The kick of acid usually gets rid of any bitter flavor. I am an acid kind of girl though! LOL. You may be talking about Ham Beens - 15 bean soup with the seasoning packet. I used it after Thanksgiving - it was devine! I used italian tomatoes in it. I have pretty much stopped buying plain canned tomatoes and use either fire roasted or italian.
ReplyDeleteThis mix had its own spice pack, so it needed nothing I could think of. It was good until I put in tomatoes, so the bitter bit of taste came through. Cinnamon did the trick. Maybe they are ham beans. The kids did the mixing of the beans. I try not to think of the fingers and floor involved with this task. lol Thanks.
DeleteI always start cooking and change directions mid way through. We have had some delicious meals (and some regrettable ones) because of this tendency!
ReplyDeleteAnne,
DeleteMaybe I don't get too wild with my additions. The only dish I ever cooked that I refused to eat was early in our marriage and I refused to eat it even though ex said it was good and ate it. It was a horrendous dish.Well, I will not eat these beans and never intended to do so. Thanks.