navy bean soup

THIS IS SUCH AN EASY DISH AND NICE FLAVOR TOO

MY SON EVEN WANTED SECONDS!
I actually didn't have a whole pound of beans but I used the full strength seasonings and it was still fine. If I had the whole pound I would have had to use a larger crock--I used my small one.

Ingredients:

1 Tab olive oil (for flavor--but you can omit it)
4 cloves of garlic
1 medium yellow onion
1/2 pound carrots
4 stalks celery
1 pound of dry navy beans
1 bay leaf
1 tsp dried crushed rosemary
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/4 to 1/2 tsp smoked paprika (you need the smoked kind for the flavor--you can get it from Amazon too
fresh ground pepper
1 tsp of salt or to taste
optional --if you eat meat , ham can be added- if you eat dairy you can add Parmesan when serving.or you can use almond flour or nutritional yeast sprinkled over top.

Directions

You can presoak the beans as it might be easier for people with stomach problems, but it is not necessary. 

1. Cut up the garlic, onion, celery, carrots and place with the oil in the crock pot.

2. Sort and rinse beans. Add to crock with the seasonings. You can hold off on most of the salt and add at the end to taste.

3. Add 6 cups water and stir.  Cook on low 8 hours. (Or you can heat on high for some hours to reduce the cooking time.

4. when beans are done mash a bit. Add some salt if needed.

The  original recipe I found at budgetbytes.com