Put on Yer food storage Hat

Okay, we had the most delish soup last night! So run, don't walk and go get your pencil and paper so you can write the recipe down. It's so easy, it's ridiculous. Go ahead, I'll wait.......

So first off, I'll give you the recipe. The original that I typed was for an insanely huge amount. I cut it in half. I can't remember where I got this recipe, so if anyone reading this knows who it came from, please give them the credit.  First, the recipe, then I'll tell you how I tweaked it and I think made it better, and also the boo-boos that I made......

Pinto Bean Soup

3 cups dried pinto beans
6 cups chicken stock
2 cans diced tomatoes with the liquid
1 can diced green chilis with liquid
1 can tomato soup
1 large onion
1 t. garlic powder
1 T balsalmic vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste.

Put all the ingredients into a stock pot. Bring to boil, then turn down heat to simmer. Cover and cook for four hours or until beans are tender. Garnish with cilantro, avocado and serve with chips.

#1 boo-boo.  I only read to the part where it said cook for four hours. So in working backwards in my mind, so dinner would be ready at six-ish, I think, "self, why don't you soak the beans all morning and then they will cook faster."  Uh-yea.  So I did soak the beans, but 4 hours was not long enough to tenderize the beans. My beans may be older, but they were not tender after four hours. I chose not to cook this in the pressure cooker because I wanted the slow, simmer flavor of the stove top cooked beans.  Even after the branch president and Relief Society president ran to the hospital to check on a member, the beans were still a tiny tad tough.  But trust me, the flavor was fab!

This is how I also tweaked it.  I cut the onion up and sauted it in a little olive oil before I added the rest of the ingredients. To me that is a sacred cow of cooking, you must always saute your onion.

Second, you MUST try Muir Glen Fire Roasted organic tomatoes. MUST. I am running low and I plan to buy a couple of cases for my food storage. They have an incredible flavor and will change your mind forever about plain ol' diced tomatoes. (P.S. for the local yokels, Sprouts will give you a 10% discount on cases!)

So I added two of the 15 ounce-ish size cans to my stock pot. Finally I only added 1/2 can of tomato soup to the mix.

Boo-boo #2. I didn't have an avocado to put on top. 
We added fresh cilantro, a little guac that I had in the fridge and shredded cheese.  Yummmmmm.

Boo-boo #3:  I am breaking the cardinal rule of a recipe on a blog. No photo of the final product. No photos of the process.

But, you gotta try this! Reasons this is awesome:

It's vegetarian if you are that.
It's food storage if you are that.
It's super easy.
And it's delish!