With the holiday season being so busy, sharing the gift of an easy dinner not only provides a delicious meal for your friends, it also eases stress.
Holiday Bean Soup
Serves: 6-8 servings
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 small onion, diced
- 1 jar Holiday Bean Soup Mix (recipe follows)
- 11 to 12 cups water
- 1 smoked ham hock
- Kosher salt, to taste
- Garnish: chopped green onion, lemon wedges
Instructions
- Heat oil in an enamel-coated cast-iron Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion; cook, stirring occasionally, until brown and starting to caramelize, about 10 minutes.
- Reserve rice packet from Holiday Bean Soup Mix; stir beans and seasonings from soup mix into pot with onions. Add 11 cups water and ham hock, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, partially cover, and cook until beans are mostly tender, about 3 hours. (Add remaining 1 cup water to keep beans covered by ½ inch of water, if needed.)
- Stir rice packet and salt into pot. Cook until rice is tender, about 20 minutes, adding additional water if needed. Remove ham hock; shred meat, discarding bone. Return meat to soup. Garnish servings with green onion and lemon, if desired.
Holiday Bean Soup Mix
Ingredients
- tablespoons Tuscan* or Italian seasoning
- 2 teaspoons lemon pepper seasoning*
- 1½ cups dried navy beans
- ½ cup dried red beans
- ½ cup dried baby green lima beans
- ¾ cup long-grain white rice
- ½ cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes
Instructions
- In a wide-mouth quart-size Mason jar, layer Tuscan or Italian and lemon pepper seasonings, navy beans, red beans, and lima beans.
- In a small bowl, stir together rice and tomatoes; transfer to a small plastic treat bag, and seal. Place in jar on top of beans. Seal with lid.
Notes
*We used Spicewalla Tuscan and Lemon Pepper Seasonings.