Vegetable and Bean Soup

Vegetable and Bean Soup

There are just times when you need a nutritional reset. That's when I love to pull together this Vegetable and Bean Soup. It is full of veggies and hearty enough with the beans to be a meal in itself.

Let's face it, after the holidays, or perhaps an indulgent vacation, we all need to get back to basics and refocus on eating healthy. I developed this recipe because I wanted to combine a vegetable soup with a hearty bean soup on New Year's Day after celebrating the holidays with a lot of rich food.

You can certainly change up the vegetables for some of your favorites. I love to add the following:

• Shredded cabbage

• Shredded carrots

• Shredded Brussels Sprouts

You can also make this fully vegetarian by omitting the ham or bacon and chicken stock and substituting vegetable stock, and for the smoky flavor of the meats use another teaspoon of smoked paprika.

Enjoy!