THAT'S what I'm talking about!

*Sometimes I like to take photos of the raw ingredients. In this case, the colors of the beans and seasonings were so nice I opted to show it that way instead.*

A'salaamu alaikum ya'll! Back when I was in UAE I posted about the spicy Arabic sausage stew I made when I was unable to find the ingredients for what I really wanted. :-)

I thought I should post the recipe and photo for what I had truly been craving that day which is 4-Bean Mexican soup. Yummy, yummy, yummy. Fairly healthy, can definitely be made meatless (though I don't know why you would want to!!) and feeds a bunch. As it's just me and Aaminah most of the time I freeze it in single serving containers. It freezes beautifully and reheats in about 6 minutes in my low-wattage microwave from frozen (a two cup portion).

4-Bean Mexican Soup:

1 lb ground beef (use very lean or ground turkey if you like to reduce fat)
2 cans diced tomatoes with onion, undrained
1 can each: black beans, chili hot beans, dark red kidney beans & great northern.
1 pack each: taco seasoning and dry ranch dressing mix

That's it. Really. I like to make mine in the crock-pot for ease of cooking. :-) Just add your raw ground beef and cook on high for about 2 hours; chop up into small pieces with wooden spoon. Drain or spoon off accumulated fat but remember: fat=flavor so don't take it all out! Then add remaining ingredients. Be sure to drain the beans (except for the chili hot beans). You can used dried beans but be sure to soak for 24 hours prior to cooking.

You can further reduce the sodium content by using low-sodium taco seasoning. I usually buy that and am very happy with it.

Say "bismillah" and enjoy!