Pantry Raid: Winter White Bean Soup

Walking home from work yesterday was miserable--it was cold and windy, and with the forecast of a wintry mix of rain and snow, I decided a hearty winter soup was in order.

I didn't feel like stopping to pick up any ingredients (I really didn't want to have to walk a second more in the wind than absolutely necessary) so I raided my pantry to come up with this white bean soup. I have listed a few fun additions at the bottom that I would have made had I had the ingredients around.

Winter White Bean Soup

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
3 garlic cloves, peeled
2 cans (about 28 oz total) white beans
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
2 cups vegetable stock
2 cups water

Directions:

1. Over medium flame, heat oil in soup pot and saute onion until soft and translucent, 5-6 minutes. Add garlic and carrots and cook 4-5 minutes more.
2. Add white beans, spices, and liquids; bring to a boil and simmer over low flame at least 30 minutes and up to 4 hours.
3. Remove half of soup from pot and blend with an immersion blender (or do what I do and just stick the immersion blender in and give it a few revs :)); return to pot with rest of soup.
   

Fun additions:

• Add 4 cups of cleaned, chopped kale or spinach in step 3.
  
• Cut 8 brussel sprouts into quarters; drizzle with oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper then roast in the oven until soft and crispy. Add to soup in step 3.

The cost:
onion: .35
carrots: .45
garlic: .15
beans: 1.98
stock: 1.99

Grand total: $4.92; serves 6-8