ASIAN BARBECUE BEAN SOUP

Can a barbecue bean soup really be Asian? Tastes like Asian to me. Maybe it’s the sesame oil. Maybe it’s the fresh garlic and ginger. Maybe it’s the barbecue in the beans. Maybe it’s all the ingredients combined. Steve picked out the ingredients and I made the soup per his request. He ate a quart of it over toasted bagel croutons. Guess he liked it. I loved it. I had the last cup this morning for breakfast. That’s when I knew why he ate so much. I would have done the same if there had been more!

Makes 5 cups

2 T. extra virgin olive oil

2 t. light-colored, mild sesame oil

8 oz. white button mushrooms, washed and diced

5 peeled garlic cloves, smashed and chopped

1 t. pink Himalayan salt

fresh grind black pepper to taste

1 thumb size piece of fresh ginger, peeled, sliced thinly, stacked, cut into thin sticks, then crosswise into tiny dice

22 oz. can Bush’s GRILLIN’ Beans, Steakhouse Recipe flavor

14.5 oz. can stewed tomatoes, including liquid – cut each slice into smaller pieces

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In large soup pot, over medium heat, melt olive and sesame oils. Add diced mushrooms, garlic, salt, black pepper and ginger. Saute, stirring continuously, for about a minute then reduce heat to low and cook, stirring often, till mushrooms become tender. Be careful not to burn the garlic.

Add Bush’s Grillin’ Beans and stewed tomatoes. Stir well, keep heat low, and cook for about 15 minutes, stirring often. Remove from heat till ready to reheat and serve.

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Notes: Fat content per cup = .75 teaspoon – 3/4 of a teaspoon. Not bad.

The Grillin’ Beans are low fat containing .5 grams of fat per 1/2 cup serving beans. A 22 oz. can contains 5.5 servings. Add to the total fat content of the soup approximately 1/2 gram per serving of soup. So, 4 grams = 1 teaspoon, which means 1 gram = 1/4 teaspoon, which means 1/2 gram (.5 gram) = 1/8 teaspoon. The amount is negligible.

SLDT