Fifteen Reasons to Eat Crockpot Bean Soup

Beans are one of my favorite foods. Yes, they make me the bad roommate, but that only matters if the other guy living here isn't being the bad roommate at the same time, which he is because he eats whatever I cook, so we mostly sit around and giggle immaturely while the cat runs and hides in the furthest corner of the house.

This soup was the product of an impulse buy and a lazy weekend in early January, and it's so tasty that it'll probably be a staple  here from now on. Throw it together in a few minutes, leave it stewing in the crockpot all day, come home to a hot meal. Can't beat that!

WARNING: This is NOT a quick meal. The beans soak for a full day, then the soup crockpots for like 8 hours. Plan ahead if you're going to cook this!

Fifteen Reasons to Eat Crockpot Bean Soup

Ingredients

1 lb 15-bean soup bag o' beans. Yes, this is a thing.

1 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, coarse-diced

1 tbsp diced garlic (or three garlic cloves)

1 bundle (around 10 or so stalks) green onion, chopped

1 lemon's worth of zest

1 tsp basil

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp thyme

1 tsp black pepper

2 shakes cayenne pepper

1 tbsp rice wine vinegar or balsamic vinegar (I used rice wine)

6 cups broth (vegetable if you're going vegetarian, chicken if not)

1 lb ham (turkey ham is perfectly good here), cubed --> omit this if you want vegetarian

Instructions
1. Soak the beans AT LEAST 24 hours in water deep enough to cover the beans and go over by maybe 1-2 inches.
2. Chop up the onion and green onion, zest the lemon, measure out the spices.
3. Heat olive oil in a small saucepan over medium high heat.
4. Add the onion and cook 3-4 minutes, stirring infrequently so that the onion has a chance to brown.
5. Add garlic, green onion, lemon zest, and spices, stirring to get everything to play nice.
6. Add the vinegar and turn off the heat.
7. Dump the water the beans were soaking in.
8. Put the beans into the crockpot.
9. Add the broth and set the crockpot to high heat.
10. Add the ham. If you forgot to cube it until now, go ahead and do that.
11. Add the stuff in the saucepan to the crockpot.
12. Stir until everything's nice and incorporated. Lid the crockpot.
13. Now, for the cook-times, you have two options:
----- a. If you're in a hurry, you can put it on high for three hours, then drop it to low for three hours, and have it ready in six hours.
----- b. If you're NOT in a hurry, you can put it on high until it comes to a boil, then drop it to low and leave it that way for eight to ten hours. This is the I-have-to-go-to-work-all-day option.

Serves up great with cornbread muffins and a side of fruit!