Bean & Bacon Soup (Slow Cooker)

By Thom7747

Lynn at happier than a pig in mud posted this wonderful recipe recently and it looked so good that I just had to make it. Lynn and her sous chef, Earl, have some great recipes, which you really need to check out. You can check out Lynn's recipe here.
The only thing that I did differently is to use my slow cooker. I have a slow cooker that you can take off at the base & brown things on the stove top. I wanted to get this soup ready earlier in the day & have it cook all afternoon. Here's the slow cooker, slightly adapted version.

Ingredients

• 4 slices bacon
• 2-3 large carrots, peeled & chopped
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• salt & pepper to taste
• 1 bay leaf
• 3 cans white beans (such as Great Northern), drained & rinsed
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1 T. dried parsley

Details

Servings 1
Adapted from kittyskozykitchen.com

Preparation

Step 1

Fry bacon until crisp. (I did mine in the microwave). Remove & set aside.

Over medium heat, add 1 T. oil (if you cooked bacon in microwave, otherwise, use the bacon fat), and add carrots, celery & onion and sauté for about 7 minutes. Add garlic & sauté about 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add salt & pepper.

Add 2 cans beans, bay leaf, and chicken broth. Cover the slow cooker & cook on low for 8 hours or on medium for 4-5 hours.


For the last 30 minutes, uncover & remove bay leaf. Mash the last can of beans & add to the slow cooker, along with the parsley. Heat through.

Taste for seasoning. As suggested by Lynn, I added some smoked salt that Michael Lee West, from Foodie Friday sent along with my give-away book that I won & it was wonderful in the soup!!