One of the greatest lessons I’ve ever learned about cooking is to be adaptable. Being able to read a recipe and then adjust it to the ingredients you have on hand and to your taste preferences will help you enjoy cooking more and yield some amazingly delicious results in the kitchen (even if there are a few disasters now and again). Take this soup, for instance. When I set out to cook it, it was intended as a chickpea soup. While I’m normally quite good about gathering all my ingredients before starting to cook (another valuable lesson), I somehow didn’t realize until halfway through cooking this that I didn’t have enough chickpeas. No matter, though, I quickly grabbed a few different cans and changed this to a three bean soup. That kale about to go bad in the fridge? Might as well toss that in too! The end result was hearty, tasty, and, dare I say, probably even better than what I’d have made if I’d had enough chickpeas in the first place!
Although the ingredient list looks long, they’re mostly basic ingredients that you probably have around (or am I the only one who has a cupboard filled with cans and cans of different varieties of beans?). And if you happen to have a different set of beans in your cupboard, feel free to adapt and use whichever beans you like best (although if you’re looking at a whole lot of black beans, I think you’ll be better off with my chipotle black bean soup). The flavoring in this soup is fairly traditional: mirepoix (onion, carrots, and celery), garlic, thyme, rosemary, and balsamic vinegar to finish it off. You’re going to want a really large pot to hold all of this soup. Great if you’re trying to feed a hungry family (with all the beans in there plus the kale, it’s sure to fill everyone up) or just want to have enough leftovers for a week or two.
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