Potato and Bean Chowder

Potato and Bean Chowder

The author and her husband enjoyed spending time together in the kitchen. He's the chopper and dicer, and they made this soup often. It's a meal with a slice of warm bread and a salad. It's quick and easy to prepare because most of the ingredients are usually on hand.

Ingredients
Cooking spray
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/4 cup chopped red bell pepper
1 garlic clove, minced
2 1/4 cups water
2 cups (1/2-inch) cubed peeled baking potato
2 cups canned diced tomatoes and green chiles, undrained
1 cup canned chickpeas (garbanzo beans), rinsed and drained
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
2 (10 1/2-ounce) cans beef consommé
1 (16-ounce) can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 (16-ounce) can navy beans, rinsed and drained
2 1/2 tablespoons grated fresh Parmesan cheese


Preparation
Heat a Dutch oven coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add the onion and next 4 ingredients (onion through garlic); sauté 5 minutes or until crisp-tender.
Add water and next 8 ingredients (water through navy beans), and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese

Yield
9 servings (serving size: about 1 1/4 cups)

Nutritional Information
CALORIES 199(7% from fat); FAT 1.6g (sat 0.4g,mono 0.4g,poly 0.6g); IRON 2.7mg; CHOLESTEROL 1mg; CALCIUM 98mg; CARBOHYDRATE 34.9g; SODIUM 905mg; PROTEIN 12.5g; FIBER 7.4g

Hey, I just noticed this is pretty high in sodium, so you might be able to replace some of the canned beans and diced tomatoes with lower sodium versions of them to help with this.