Bean and Bacon Soup

This is one of my "go to" soups on a winter day. I do keep the salt down and use a low salt chicken bullion to add a bit more flavor. If I have spinach on hand, I may add some to my bowl and let it wilt a bit prior to eating. I would have given it 5 stars if the system allowed me to change them.

I liked it, but it could use a little less pepper

Yes, people commonly refer to RIBS of celery as stalks. Also, to dramatically reduce the amount of sodium use dried beans...they are infinitely better. Just pre-soak them, using either the quick-soak method or the overnight soaking method. They can also be quick soaked in a pressure cooker. A far better choice than canned beans.

This is really good. Salt can be omitted. Two STALKS of celery is more than 1 cup. Did you mean two RIBS of celery?

Mintchip51, That much salt is unhealthy, no matter one's age. You can reduce the salt by doing the following: 1. Rinse the beans before adding to the soup (beans are usually canned in salted water). 2. Use a sodium-reduced bacon, preferably the "natural" kind (those added chemicals are also bad for you). 3. Add no salt to the soup before serving - then let all at the table season as they wish. (Let them know that you've created a low-sodium version, so they might want to salt their soup after tasting it). By following all 3 steps, you should be able to reduce sodium to under 300 mg. per serving. In my view, most recipes overdo the salt. I never cook with it (and reduce it significantly when baking bread), and only season afterward, if needed. This recipe, in addition to the salt from the beans, also has salt from the bacon (1 slice contains about 500 mg of salt), and then goes on to add an additional 1-1/4 teaspoons. That is truly excessive!

Now that women age 50 and over are supposed to limit salt intake to 1500 miligrams per day, would be interesting to see such recipes adapted to have much less salt instead of the almost 1200 mg it has in the current format.

Made in May '09. Thick & yummy. I measured the 2 cups of water by including the drained liquid from the canned beans. The bacon gives the soup a nice, smoky flavor.