Bean and Bacon Soup

This is a great base for bean with bacon soup. Yes, the ingredients don't lend much to flavor but that's where the creativity kicks in. Now, I would never use water for my soups. I always use broth (chicken, beef, veggie or fish if seafood soup). I also added 1 teaspoon of fresh thyme, 1 bay leaf and let it simmer for 20 minutes to ensure the flavors were extracted from the herbs. I also added 4 cans of beans and used 32 oz. of chicken broth. I had a parmigiano-reggiano rind of cheese in my freezer waiting for this very moment that I made a soup that needed extra flavor. I let that steep in the soup to flavor it even more. I pureed about half the soup to get the thick, creamy consistency. This soup was so incredibly flavorful and comforting. Check out my blog and see the results. http://chefjencowen.wordpress.com/

Very bland, will not make again. relies completely on the bacon for flavor, so bites without the bacon don't have any flavor. needs some spices to improve

The was a quick recipe for a great soup. I think this could be better if left in the slow cooker so the beans cook down into to thicken the soup. I might try doing so next time.

This was soooo bland!!! I was very disappointed. It looked like it was going to be tasty! If I was to make this again, I'd use chicken stock instead of water and up it to 3 cups, not 2. And I would definitely add more spices. It was very simple to make, which was nice.