Soup to warm you up

I don't know about you but it's been COLD here. And the other day we got all types of snow and the plows didn't seem to be out at all. What's up with that? It took one friend an hour and a half to make it into work! That's just wrong.

For days like this everyone should just stay home and make up a nice pot of soup. This is super easy, fast, no fuss soup. No boiling for hours, just toss it all in the pot to heat up, and you're good to go. I added turkey kielbasa and shrimp to mine, but you could easily leave them out and have a nice vegetarian soup.

I'd like to thank Donna and Frank for the awesome new bowls!!
I love these things.

Beantastic Soup
spray or drizzle of olive oil
4 scallions green and white parts chopped
1/2 cup salsa (i used medium heat)
3 cloves garlic chopped
1 can low sodium black eye peas (not rinsed or drained)
1 can low sodium red beans (not rinsed or drained)
2-4 glugs Franks Red Hot (more or less to taste)
2 cups low sodium vegetable stock (I LOVE wegmans low sodium vegetable and chicken stocks, you can find them in the organic aisle, they are flavorful and only have 4% sodium per serving!)
1/2 a package turkey kielbasa sliced
1/2 lb frozen cooked shrimp thawed and tails removed
chopped scallions for garnish
thickly grated sharp cheddar cheese for garnish

Saute kielbasa in a soup pot until nicely browned, add garlic, ginger and scallions until aromatic (1-2 minutes)
Dump in half the beans and mash with a potato masher, then dump in the rest of the beans in un-mashed.
Add vegetable stock and red hot and stir to incorporate. Simmer until heated through (about 5 minutes). A few minutes before serving add the shrimp (you want them to heat up but not over cook since they are already cooked).
Serve topped with scallions and grated sharp cheddar.

This soup is done in under 30 minutes start to finish.

If you can't find low sodium beans, it's ok, just drain and rinse one can and not the other. That will still give you a little of the thickness with some less salt. If you used both full on sodium without rinsing, it may be a bit overpoweringly salty.

Chow!