Purple Soup

It seems almost too easy to make a broth with a stick blender.  It seems like that invention opened the world of soups and soup making wide open.  The way I think about things with this invention is you have your solids and your broth.  You can’t mix them until you’ve blended.  You can prepare them separately or together after the blending point.  Most people are only looking for hot food in a soup.  For this I thought calling it purple soup would make it appealing to kids.  You could come up with a descriptor about it’s flavor as well.

Ingredients:

• 1 28 oz jar cheese based pasta sauce
• 1 24 oz container cottage cheese
• 16 oz greek yogurt plain
• 3 15 oz cans black beans
• 8 medium sized yukon gold potatoes
• 2 lbs ham cubed
• 1 lb fresh mushrooms
• Milk or water

Instructions:

1. Place all ingredients except the solids, the ham and the mushrooms, in a crock pot.
2. Add milk or water to cover eventual broth ingredients and cook through water, first cold, then warm, and finally boiling, in a crock pot on low for 8 hours.
3. Blend with stick blender.
4. I am choosing to cook the solids separately, so in a frying pan I sauteed my mushrooms in olive oil.  The ham I cooked in the mushroom juices until browned.
5. Place a portion of ham and sauteed mushrooms in a bowl.  Cover with broth.  Stir and serve.