Spinach & Bean ~ Vegetable Soup

    It's Winter and the days have been cold.  I needed some soup!  I had a nice bag of spinach staring at me in the fridge along with some fresh garlic and Summer corn that I used in another recipe earlier in the week.  I decided to make a vegetable soup with Beans and Spinach as the base.  To make this a complete vegetarian soup just substitute Vegetable Broth/Stock in place of the Chicken Broth/Stock.  If you want the soup a bit creamier - consider blending up an extra can of beans in your blender and adding to the soup.  This is a great tasting and nutritious soup - I used 3 fat cloves of garlic which gave this soup a nice garlic kick/flavor! This soup can be pressure canned  (instructions below) ~Enjoy! Diane 

Winter Vegetable Soup {Spinach & Bean}
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Ingredients: 
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 onion, sliced thin
3 big cloves minced garlic
3 large diced carrots
1 cup corn
2 (14.5 ounce cans) fire roasted tomatoes
6 1/2 cups chicken broth/stock
1 can great northern beans, drained
1 can kidney beans, drained 
2 teaspoons oregano
2 teaspoons parsley
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 bag 10 ounce fresh spinach
ground black pepper, to taste
salt, to taste

Directions:
 Place the butter and oil in the bottom of a large soup pot, and saute the onion until tender, then add the minced garlic for another 2 min. and cook until fragrant. Add all remaining ingredients to the pot and simmer until vegetables are tender.
If you would like to add cooked rice or pasta, prepare according to the package instructions and serve on the side. I like leaving the pasta or rice out of the soup pot so that people can control how much of that they want in their bowl, and the starch from those items don't soak up all the liquid/broth. I also leave out the pasta and rice in case I want to continue on and pressure can any leftovers as you cannot can rices/pastas.  

Want to Pressure Can this Soup?  Fill jars halfway with solids and the other half broth, process in a Pressure Canner: Quarts 90 mins and Pints 70 mins. at 10 pounds psi weighted gauge canner/11 pounds dial gauge canner (or the psi according to your altitude)
 *I increase NCHFP "Soup Timing" for the addition of corn & spinach in this recipe. 
http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_04/soups.html

Yield: approx 3 & 1/2 quarts (7 pints) 
 
Recipe & Photos by: Diane Baker for Canning and Cooking at Home