Tomato-Rice Soup with Roasted Garlic and Navy Beans

I love me some roasted garlic... and all throughout a soup - yum! This was awesome soup, amazingly healthy... the only downfall was we were eating hot soup in 97* weather. I followed the recipe, but added some kale at the end. And it called for a can of navy beans, but I added the leftovers from the Rustic White Beans and Mushrooms. Perfect. It made a ton of soup, so I froze half of it for a later don't-feel-like-cooking day.

2 bulbs garlic

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 medium-size yellow onion, diced as small as possible

1 cup long-grain brown rice (I actually love the short-grain brown rice from the bulk bins at Sprouts, I always have that on-hand, so I use that)

2 bay leaves

2 teaspoons dried thyme

1 teaspoon dried marjoram

2 teaspoons salt

several pinches of freshly ground black pepper

2 (28 ounce) cans crushed tomatoes

1 (15 ounce) can navy beans, drained and rinsed (about 1 1/2 cups)

PREHEAT the oven to 425*F. Roast the garlic for about 45 minutes, until soft. You should be able to feel if it's soft by pressing with a knife or your finger.

Preheat a soup pot over medium heat. Saute the onions in the olive oil for 5 to 7 minutes, until translucent.

Add the rice, bay leaves, thyme, marjoram, salt, and pepper and cook, stirring, for about 2 minutes. Add the crushed tomatoes, then fill up the can with water twice and add the water (that's 56 ounces of water).

Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer for about 45 minutes.

Remove the garlic from the oven. When it is cool enough to handle, squeeze the roasted garlic out of its skin and into a small bowl. Use a for to mash the garlic to a relatively smooth consistency, then add to the soup once the rice is nearly tender.

When the rice is completely cooked, add the beans and heat through. Then it's ready to serve - just remove the bay leaves beforehand.

BELLY BITERS:

shayne {yum} jen {yum!} ava {eh.} nolan {"it's gooood!"} corynn {tore.it.up!}

Veganomicon, pg 137

serves 10 to 12

time: 45 minutes