GF V Pasta Bean Soup

Tomorrow we are celebrating my son’s 14^th birthday with his friends.   I am grabbing pizza for the boys and then we are proceeding to the Linkin Park concert.  If I am going to survive these wild teenage boys – I must fuel up first.  Since I am working all day tomorrow and only have a small window of time to eat (but no time to cook), the easiest way for me to get my fast food is to make a hearty soup in advance.  I like to do this in the crock pot as it is very little maintenance and I can make a big enough batch to freeze the extra which will give me fast food on those nights that I am on the go.  When making dry bean based soups in the crock pot, I prefer to make them on days that I am home so I can keep an eye on the liquids.

GF V Pasta Bean Soup

4 cups vegetable broth

1 cup uncooked brown rice pasta (I use fusilli from Trader Joes)

1 cup dry pink beans

1 cup dry white navy beans

1 celery stalk, chopped

1 medium sized onion, chopped,

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 cup spinach (fresh or frozen)

1 can chopped tomatoes

2 bay leaves

1 tsp. dried thyme

1 tsp. dried oregano

1 tsp dried bail

½ tsp dried sage

½ tsp black pepper

¼ tsp sea salt

Water as needed

Parma for garnish (faux parmesan found at Whole Foods or online specialty stores)

Throw everything except pasta, Parma and water in crock pot and let it go on high heat.  Keep an eye on it and stir about every hour.  If you see the liquid is looking low, add 1 cup of water or more if necessary.  The beans will soak the liquids so you need to make sure there is thin layer of liquid on top.  Soup is done when beans are fully cooked, about 4- 6 hours.  Add past in and keep cooking additional 30 minutes.

Garnish with Parma before serving.

Transfer left over soup into freezer safe container and freeze.  When I know my evenings are packed with meetings and playing chauffeur, I pull a container of soup out in the morning and let it defrost all day in the refrigerator.  You can also defrost it in the microwave in a microwave safe container.  Reheat the soup in the microwave or on the stove.  If you noticed your liquids have been absorbed more into the beans after you have defrosted your soup, add a little water when reheating.