Tuscan White Bean Soup

Ingredients:

2 Slices Bacon (1 diced 1 whole)

1 Shallot diced

¼ cup white Onion (use more shallot or whatever you like, this is just what I had on hand)

2 celery stocks diced

4 Cloves of Garlic diced

Salt/Pepper

4 Carrots diced

2 qts – reduced sodium Chicken Broth

Italian Seasoning

Red Chili Flakes

2 bay leaves

4 fresh basil leaves

2 cans – White

2 can Cannellini beans (white kidney beans)

1/3 container – Swanson's Cream Starter (optional)

Al Fresco - Sweet Italian Chicken Sausage (or any sausage you prefer but I highly recommend this kind)

3 cups roughly chopped spinach

Take one slice of bacon and diced up, sauté it in large stock pot with the following, adding and stirring each as you go, so they cook the right amount of time (I honestly just dice as I go), add diced shallot, white onion, celery, garlic, salt/pepper and 2 of the carrots, sauté until soft and browning slightly. Add in the 2 qts of Chicken Broth, Italian seasoning, 1 basil leaf diced, 2 bay leaves and Red Chili flakes, cook at a gentle boil for a few minutes, add one can Cannellini beans, cook for 5-10 minutes until everything is soft and tender.  

Remove bay leaves. Transfer soup to a large bowl. Add 1/3 of the soup at a time to the blender and blend until smooth. As batches are blended, return to big stock pot, continue cooking at a gentle boil. Add in the cream starter (not sure this was needed), stir until well combined. Add 2^nd can of Cannellini beans.

In a separate sauté pan, add the 2^nd slice of bacon whole, and the chicken sausage chopped up.  Brown the chicken sausage slightly, then add just the sausage to the soup. Finish cooking remaining slice of bacon, reserve for garnish. Add the remaining 2 carrots diced to the soup. Cook for about 5-7 minutes, once it’s all done, add in the fresh basil chopped, the spinach roughly chopped. Remove from heat. 

Garnish with the 2^nd slice of bacon (or just eat it), and a little parmesan.  Serve with bread if desired – we had it with Rosemary Seasalt bread from Safeway – SO GOOD!

ENJOY! 

Ps. This was really an experiment and a combination of lots of different recipes online and a little of my crazy creative vision, but really came together into a lovely hearty soup my whole family loved! Adding it to our staples! Really inexpensive and comes together in about 1-1.5 hours depending on your speed at prep-work. Let me know what you think!