Stone Soup is not just a children's story...

In one of my more creative moments when the kids were little one of them asked what was for dinner, and “Stone Soup” was my reply. At this time in our lives, Jason and I lived a very meager existence and sometimes I was a bit nervous about what was going to make it to the table for dinner. That night, James, my oldest, offered up his favorite, very perfect stone for the first rendition of this dish, and then things started going into the pot.

Soup is one of the more creative dishes. Liberties abound.  Your proteins flavor it, your legumes or grains bulk it up, your herbs season it and your vegetables round it out. And the best part is - there is no recipe! Well not really. It is in fact many recipes.  You could have stone soup for a year and never repeat the same meal. It’s hearty and filling and you’ll never know it was a shoestring offering.  

I’m going to be using six beans in this Stone Soup.  I never by the mixed bean bags because they mix little itty bitty lentils with big ‘ole lima beans and the little ones turn to mush while the big ones stay hard. So I’ve just learned to do with beans that are relatively the same size.  I used dried beans and I get them from the bulk section of the grocery store. If you don’t have a bulk section, then you can get six bags of six different dried beans and keep the leftovers on hand until next time.

Stone Soup of the 6 Bean variety (Printable Recipe)

·         1 perfect stone

·         ¼ cup Black Beans

·         ¼ cup Pinto Beans

·         ¼ cup Cannellini Beans

·         ¼ cup Kidney Beans

·         ¼ cup Great Northern Beans

·         ¼ cup Lima Beans

·         1 large onion roughly chopped

·         2 bay leaves

·         2 smoked ham hocks - $1.00

·         1 sprig or 1 tablespoon of thyme

·         1 sprig or 1 tablespoon of rosemary

·         1 pound of meat, cut into ½ inch cubes (beef roast, pork roast, turkey breast, or chicken breasts) - $3.00

·         1 carrot

·         2 potatoes

·         1 bunch of kale, mustard or turnip greens - $3.00

·         2 tablespoons white vinegar

·         Parmesan cheese

·         Black pepper

*If you like this the first time through, next time quadruple steps 1-3 and then freeze 3/4 of it in batches in an appropriate size for your family.  Then the day before you want soup, defrost a batch in the fridge.  Then 30 minutes before dinner, reheat, and then follow through with step 4.

Step 1 - before you make your soup

The morning of the day that you are going to cook you soup, measure out ¼ cup of each bean into a mixing bowl and rinse them six times. Then cover with double the amount of water to beans and let sit until needed. Do not salt them at this stage.

Step 2- simmer your meat

Six hours before dinner put your protein into a soup pot with 6 cups of water, the onion, the herbs, the ham hocks and the stone. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cover.

*If you have prepped this step the day before and put it in the fridge, a responsible older child can bring it to a boil and reduce it to simmer so that step 3 is ready for you when you come home from work.

** If you choose a piece of meat that is inexpensive that had a lot of connective tissue and fat, then add an hour or more to this process.  That will give it time to break down the connective tissue and melt the fat.  

***You can also do this step by simmering the meat all day in your crock-pot.  Then when you get home, spread all the meat on a cookie sheet, transfer the broth to your soup pot on the stovetop, and move on to step 3.  Then when the meat has cooled and you have had time to remove the fat and unrendered connective tissue, add the meat to the beans in the soup pot and continue.

Step 3 – add the beans

Three hours before dinner, strain off all the water from the beans, rinse again and strain again. This removes a lot of the stuff that causes gas, so don’t skip!

Add the beans to the soup, add a little more water if needed. Taste the broth at this point and add salt.  Add more than you think you will need because the beans soak a lot of it up and then it will taste under seasoned.

Step 4 – add the vegetables

While the beans cook, chop the veggies.

20 minutes before dinner, add the veggies. Add a little more water if needed. Bring to a boil again; reduce to a simmer and cover. After 20 minutes taste for salt content.  If you need a little more salt, add it now. Then stir in the vinegar and let sit for 5 minutes for the vinegar to incorporate and then serve.

Serve with a crusty loaf of bread, a grind of parmesan cheese and a little cracked black pepper.  I like garlic rosemary bread with this soup. The person who gets the stone in their bowl is the winner!

Total cost - $5.00

Total cooking time - 6 to12 hours depending on which method you choose.
(Only about 15 minutes is actually spent prepping food, the rest is hands off)

Mix up your ingredients and let me know what your favorites are!