9 Bean and Sausage Soup

Cold weather makes me want to cook beans, soup, chili, stew - anything hot and substantial.  There is nothing particularly unique about this recipe - it is pretty standard procedure for cooking dried beans.  I love any kind of dried beans!  They are filling, nutritious, full of fiber, and economical.  Recently I bought a couple of packages of 9 bean soup mix (or was it 16?) at the grocery store.  It came with a seasoning packet, which I did not use because I suspected that it would be excessively salty.  Adding sausage gives the beans a nice flavor, but I wanted to reduce as much as fat as possible.  The only salt in the beans came from canned tomatoes and sausage.  They mixture was pretty soupy by design; it will be served over rice, perfect fare for a winter's day!

9 Bean and Sausage Soup

1 lb. link sausage

2 cups mixed beans

1 (14.5 oz.) can diced tomatoes

1 small onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely chopped

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon chili powder

2 teaspoons cumin

6 cups water

Slice sausage into bite-sized pieces, about 3/8 inches thick.  Transfer to a skillet, browning both sides.  If you want to remove more fat (which I did), cover with water and boil for a while to release most of the fat.  Drain in a colander; rinse with hot water to remove more fat. 

Sauté onion, garlic, and jalapeno in olive oil.  Combine beans, sausage, tomatoes, sautéed vegetables, seasonings, and water in slow cooker.  Cook on High power a couple of hours, making sure that the temperature is above 140°F.  Reduce to Low power and cook several hours, until beans are tender.  Yield:  about 10 cups soup.

During the cooking process, taste to adjust seasoning.  The salt from the sausage and canned tomatoes was adequate for my taste; I added no extra salt.  Of course, the beans could be cooked in a pot on the stove.