What's Cookin': Spicy Beans & Spicy Bean Soup

Tonight, you get two recipes because they go together. The Spicy Beans started out as a recipe from Hillybilly Housewife where she said to mix some salsa with some cooked beans for a frugal meal. And then I changed it. Because I can't leave anything alone. I don't have a picture of the Spicy Beans themselves because I wasn't planning on posting the recipe. But I do have the three pictures of the soup.

Spicy Beans (Or, Crazy Hot Beans of Death)
5 strips bacon, chopped - .90
2 hot links, chopped - .90 (Ben likes the Louisiana hot sausage which are insanely hot)
1 can white beans - .75
1 can black beans - .75
1 1/2 C salsa - 1.20
2 C uncooked rice - .64

Cook rice using whatever method you like to use. I do mine in the microwave.

In a skillet cook the bacon to whatever type of done you prefer. I like mine mostly crunchy with just a little bit of chewy left. Then add the hot links and let them heat up if they are pre-cooked (ours are), or until they are cooked if you have some that aren't. Then add the rest of the ingredients. Let heat through then salt and pepper to taste, if you need it. Serve over cooked rice.


Total: 5.14

Variations: This made about 6 (ish) servings. If you are a sane person, you can use regular sausage, or even hot dogs if you wanted. Ben likes spicy (a lot), thus the hot links. Although it was very tasty, I couldn't eat very much because I don't do overly spicy very well. It did however, go very well into soup.

I called this spicy tortilla soup because the recipes I found had pretty much the same ingredients minus the hot links and bacon and usually calling for shredded chicken instead. I wanted to use the leftovers. So I figured it was the same with just some... personalization. However, Ben said it was totally not even close to tortilla soup. I wouldn't know, but I'll go along with what he said and so I have dubbed this Spicy Bean soup since it used the leftovers.

Spicy Bean Soup
2 C Crazy Hot Beans of Death - 1.70
3 C chicken broth - .20 (I honestly have no idea because mine was homemade that I had in the freezer. So I guessed)
1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes - 1.20
1 tsp garlic powder - .03
1 tsp cumin - .18

Throw everything in a pot and simmer on low for about an hour, or until your husband gets home. I know, really hard huh? Serve with shredded cheese and tortilla chips crumbled on top.


Total: 3.31

Variations: I think next time I might bypass the Spicy Beans part since I don't think I could eat them by themselves again without dieing. So in the future I will just make this soup with one can of beans, maybe one hot link, 2-3 strips of bacon and a 1/2 cup salsa (if I feel like it). Just like the beans, you could use regular sausage. Or add chicken like those recipes I found. You could also add all kinds of veggies. Onions, bell peppers, corn, etc. This made AWESOME soup. The spicy-ness (like my word?) was really tuned down in a soup and was even more mellow with cheese added in. This made 4 servings. You could double everything for a larger family or for lots of leftovers. Ben said it was really good and approved it for future eating. Maybe I will start adding "Ben Ratings".