Rice and Bean Soup

Yield – 4 servings

Preparation Time – 5 minutes

Cooking Time – 120 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 cup red beans ($.50)
• 1 cup black beans ($.50)
• 1 cup uncooked rice ($.20)
• 15 oz can of diced tomatoes, no flavoring ($.23) (recently on sale for $.75 – $1/2 coupon – $1/5 “ecoupon” from Shortcuts.com)
• 8 oz can tomato sauce ($.33) OFTEN on sale at Walgreens, gives soup a nice red color
  
• 3 cloves garlic, smooshed not crushed ($.15)
• 2 T extra virgin olive oil ($.05)
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• Lots of water…Start with 6 cups and add as necessary
• 8 oz Cascadian Farm Organic frozen corn ($.75) (1/2 a bag on sale for $2.50 and used $1 coupon)
• 2 HUGE sweet potatoes ($.74) (On sale this week for $.37/lb at Kroger and $.25/lb at Walmart I hear!)

Directions

• Rinse beans and soak overnight. Forgot to soak em overnight. Put them in a sauce pan and cover with water. Bring to a boil. Turn off and let soak 1-2 hours. Drain water, add new water and cook. Cook 2 cups of beans enough water to cover + 2 inches. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and cook on medium for 1.5-2 hours, or until beans are soft.
• Add garlic, tomatoes, salt and pepper when you first start cooking the beans. About 2 minutes before beans are done, add 1 cup rice. Add more water if you need to, as the rice will soak up about 2 cups of water.
• Cook corn as directed on package.
• Bake sweet potatoes (don’t forget to slit/pierce them!) at 350 F for 1 hour in baking dish with 1/4 inch of water, and covered with foil. Makes for a delicious, sweet and mushy sweet potato!
• Options…add taco seasoning (I did not!), add corn in with the soup (I wanted the boys to eat their veggies, and figured they would prefer them out of the soup!), replace diced tomatoes with “tomatoes and green chiles” to give the soup some kick.
• Replace corn with diced potatoes…the possibilities are endless! I just used what I had in the cupboards 🙂
• Did I mention how I love simmering soups because they add a little humidity to the otherwise dry and stale air!

Cost $3.45