Vegan U.S. Senate Bean Soup (We're All Friends Here, Right?)

Yes, yes, I know. This soup goes by many names. When I was growing up it was known as "ham and beans" or maybe to you, "beans and hamhocks". We didn't use the term hamhock ever in my house. I had never heard of a hock-of-ham until we moved our Yankee selves south. Then one time a friend invited me over for dinner. They were having, you guessed it: hamhocks and beans. I looked at it, smelled it, then asked the obvious: What's a hamhock? We won't elaborate on this here. But suffice it to say, I'd put the thought of white bean soup out of my mind ever since.

Our mom would serve her soup up with a side of the boxed kind of cornbread, then I'd slather my cornbread with tons of margerine and pour plain corn syrup over it. (Yes, the diabetic coma-inducing kind). I don't recall being a fan of the ham part, but I do recall the soup being on a regular rotation.

I'll give away my secret here for anyone interested in creating this soup in an hour from dry beans: pressure cooker. I LOVE my pressure cooker! Love. It. You must get one if you have not already. It is my secret kitchen weapon in all things beans, last minute risotto, and just about any soup craving I have. I can put the ingredients in and in an hour, have soup that tastes just as good as it would had I slaved over it all day. I have a Fagor pressure cooker and think it sent me back like sixty bucks. Completely worth it.

I have the gardening itch really bad right now. Everything is still covered in a layer of ice, then snow on top of that. I really don't anticipate seeing the actual dirt from my yard until we have like a week of forty degree days. I nearly killed myself on a piece of ice this morning. Where it was water yesterday, has once again frozen over to a sheet of ice. 

I have a little meeting-new-people story to share here. Ladies, you will totally get this classic scenario of "new female encounters" moment I had yesterday. *If you want to skip this you can--head on down and the recipe for this amazingly super-simple soup is there.

A couple of us master gardeners volunteered to prepare a presentation for a local gardening club who'd requested a spring presentation on, well: gardening. It's been nearly three years since graduating from my MG program. I feel I am ready. So, being the I-really-don't-like-meeting-new-people person I am, but try to stick to my creed: Do something that scares you every day--I opted in. One of the women volunteering for this was from my MG class, thus, someone I knew. The other woman is someone I'd not met, therefore did not know. She's a newbie MG. But that's okay--at least I wasn't walking into this a complete unknown--plus it's another plant lover! So, I do what I usually do on days where my meeting-new-people arrives (which isn't very often), I sent a note out asking if the meeting was still on (that's my corporate self doing the double check thingy and my fear of abandonment issue playing out--making sure I don't show up and find myself alone). I only got an an email back from my "friend". So I arrive and there they both are. Before you read this, please know--this has a VERY happy ending. Though, try to picture this whole thing playing out, it made me laugh--I hope you can see the humor in it, too.

Me: Hi! (Person I don't know is seated, my other friend, fellow MG is there, standing. They are chatting.)

My Friend: Hi there! (Hugs.)

Me: Hi! (To new person.)

New Person: Hello. (Still seated. And then this:) I just thought I'd tell you that if I say I'm going to be somewhere, I'll be there. I'm an adult, I don't need a note or reminder for meetings. 

Next: Crickets. Awkward silence. All three of us standing there. Nerves coiling. Feet wanting to turn and leave. Then inside voice said, Kelly, just smile, take the high road. . . and smile.

Me: Oh. (long pause) Kay. (Smiling, well, sort of a "smirk"--there was a bit of a frost in the air, if truth be told, but we had work to do. Meantime, this little converstation was taking place in my head: Oh no she didn't! Are you CRAZY. . . I should smack you for being such a witch not two minutes after our meeting for the VERY. FIRST. TIME! See this is why you don't really like meeting new people, Kelly!)

Perhaps this has never happened to you--meeting someone for the first time and it not going so well. Or how about it being a complete train wreck! Because let's admit it ladies, we are complicated, moody, judgemental and very catty sometimes--and please don't play saint with me. (I was in a sorority in college so feel I am somewhat more versed in "female caddy" than most.) This is why women cannot run the world. I shudder to think of the outcome.

Long story short, gardening is the great equalizer. I mean, how can talking about plants and all things flowers and veggies do anything but bring us all to a common ground. And it did. Very soon, this "first encounter" moment served up as a great story, and one to laugh about as we got to know one another--me saying how my email was really just an attempt to make sure I was not left alone in a new place all by myself! When we peeled back more layers, we realized we had more in common than not! Things were dicey there for a minute or two, I won't lie. But finally, we came to the point where we could replay the "first meeting" scenario, word for word, laugh out loud about how ridiculous it was and how, after all, I was only trying to protect my "abandonment issues self" and meant no harm. She got it. We ALL got it. Life lesson learned yet again for a couple of Almost Fifty women. (Oh, did I tell you we are both about the same age: Almost Fifty, and perhaps. . . more prone to these unpredictable moments of CRAZY!). Made a new friend! Came home and had two handfuls of chocolate candy and a piece of cake. Stress relief food.

This soup recipe is so easy, it's ridiculous. In lieu of the hamhocks, I made my own tempeh bacon. Quite easy--and so much better than the "other" kind. Your tempeh bacon-makin' might take a bit longer, but still, in the end, you'll have a flavor reminiscent of the olden days but saving a poor piggy from ill demise.

I'm giving you the pressure cooker version. If you don't have one, you'll need to soak the beans over night and the process is really quite long for you. For the pressure cooker folks:

1 1/2 cups dry navy beans

3 cups water

Cook beans according to pressure cooker directions. For my cooker, the beans were done in about 20 minutes total. I rinsed them, then set about to make the soup.

In a soup pot, or in the pressure cooker (and I opted to cook my soup in the pressure cooker again, after my beans were ready--because it was late and I wanted dinner on the table in about a half hour)--I added the following:

2 large onions chopped

3 tablespoons minced garlic (about six-to-eight cloves)

2 celery stalks

1 large russet potato, peeled, chopped

some fresh chopped pasley for garnish

some green onions for garnish

3-4 cups veggie stock for flavor

salt and pepper to taste

tempeh bacon for topping

In your soup pot add about two tablepsoons of canola oil and saute the onions, celery, garlic and potato until the onions begin to soften, about five minutes. Next, add the beans and stock. I used salt free stock. (No salt yet--if you add salt to beans while you are still trying to cook them down or soften them--it will do nothing but prevent your beans from getting to the "soft" point.) Cover this and allow to simmer for about half an hour longer. Until the potato and beans and all begin to look really soft. The potato will serve as a nice thickener for the soup without you having to add cream. When ready, taste the soup for any additional seasonings. Serve the soup topped with some chopped parsley, chopped green onion and crumbled tempeh bacon.

Tempeh Bacon

1 package tempeh, sliced in half lengthwise, then into half again

2 cup water

Place tempeh in water and bring to a boil and then turn heat down to simmer the tempeh for about 15 minutes. This helps get that "taste" out of the tempeh. Drain tempeh. Set aside for a minute.

Next, in a flat bottom, shallow dish, add the following:

1 cup veggie stock

1 teaspoon liquid smoke (really essential here for flavor enhancing--you can get this stuff at Whole Foods.)

1 tablespoon Braggs Liquid Aminos or Tamari Soy Sauce

1 teaspoon hot sauce

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1 tablespoon maple syrup

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon garlic powder

Whisk all liquid ingredients together in the shallow dish. Add the tempeh pieces. Allow to marinate for about half an hour. Next, add a tablespoon of canola oil to your saute pan over medium heat. Add the tempeh and cook about four minutes on one side. Turn it over, then add about a quarter cup at at time, the remaining liquid from the marinade. Cook the liquid down until it has reduced completely. That's it. You now have some really good tempeh bacon for yourself and your soup! Enjoy!