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Do you have a lot of tomatos and peppers in the garden? Celebrate your harvest with this hearty soup that will warm your bones on chilly autumn evenings! I like to serve this in the small black dishes used in Mexican restaurants for salsa. They look like cauldrons and they help keep the serving sizes modest. This quick, easy recipe can be prepared in about 15 or 20 minutes.

Eating light, high fiber, high protein foods will help you feel full and stay healthy. Garden Harvest Bean Soup includes an abundance of your own garden (or farmers' market) produce. This hearty soup recipe fills you up and makes eating light easy while you celebrate your harvest.

Eating a dinner with just 350 fewer calories a day can help you loose a pound of weight every ten days (or three pounds a month) without even trying to diet or exercise! A pound of body fat is about the same size as a pound of butter, or 4 sticks. When you consume 3,500 extra calories above what your body requires to maintain your current weight, you gain a pound. So if your evening dinners for the week have 500 extra calories, you will gain a pound that week. In contrast, eating a low calorie but highly nutritious and filling dinner such as this soup will save you quite a few calories, and you won't even notice you are eating light.

Each serving of this soup has only 265 calories, 13.5 grams of fiber and 13 grams of protein. This is an excellent, vegan, crock pot candidate. I use canned beans when I'm in a hurry and simply dump the whole can of each type indicated in the ingredients into a crock pot. You can add chopped smoked sausage such as Hillshire Farms Turkey Smoked Sausage or Light Smoked Sausage if you want to add some savory meat and extra protein without adding too many calories. Yummy when topped with corn chips. One ounce of Fritos corn chips has about 160 calories and will top about 2 servings of soup.

Peel garlic and remove seeds from jalapenos. Put both in a blender with the quartered tomatos and puree until smooth.

Chop onion and saute until camelized (If using sausage, saute it with the onion). Add tomato puree, all beans and chopped aneheim.

Stove Top: Simmer uncovered on stove, stirring occasionally, for 30 to 45 minutes. Season to taste. About 5 minutes before serving add the frozen corn and continue to heat just until the corn thaws. This maintains the sweet "pop" that corn will give the soup, and a nice flavor contrast, it will also bring the soup temperature down to a level that can be eaten without burning your mouth!

Crock Pot: Place in pot on medium heat for 4 to 6 hours (low heat for 8 to 10 hours - high heat 1 to 2 hours) Add corn when you get home and allow it to thaw while cooling off your soup, about 5 minutes.

Cauldron Over Fire: Use stove top directions except heat over glowing coals to achieve a simmer for 15 to 20 minutes. The starch and protein in the beans may cause sticking to cast iron so stir constantly and it is recommended that you also cackle maniacally occasionally.

Right before serving, season with salt and pepper as desired.

Nutrition Facts Made According to Recipe Without Sausage 6 Servings Amount Per Serving Calories 265.9 Total Fat 2.0 g Saturated Fat 0.3 g Polyunsaturated Fat 0.8 g Monounsaturated Fat 0.3 g Cholesterol 0.0 mg Sodium 510.1 mg Potassium 966.8 mg Total Carbohydrate 55.2 g Dietary Fiber 13.5 g Sugars 3.6 g Protein 13.0 g Vitamin A 35.9 % Vitamin B-12 0.0 % Vitamin B-6 30.9 % Vitamin C 155.6 % Vitamin D 0.0 % Vitamin E 4.4 % Calcium 7.0 % Copper 21.1 % Folate 38.5 % Iron 19.9 % Magnesium 20.1 % Manganese 46.2 % Niacin 12.6 % Pantothenic Acid 9.7 % Phosphorus 22.5 % Riboflavin 13.4 % Selenium 8.1 % Thiamin 20.4 % Zinc 10.4 %

Nutrition Facts With 8 oz Hillshire Farms Light Smoked Sausage 6 Servings Amount Per Serving Calories 339.2 Total Fat 7.4 g Saturated Fat 2.3 g Polyunsaturated Fat 0.8 g Monounsaturated Fat 0.3 g Cholesterol 23.3 mg Sodium 850.1 mg Potassium 966.8 mg Total Carbohydrate 55.2 g Dietary Fiber 13.5 g Sugars 3.6 g Protein 19.0 g Vitamin A 35.9 % Vitamin B-12 0.0 % Vitamin B-6 30.9 % Vitamin C 156.9 % Vitamin D 0.0 % Vitamin E 4.4 % Calcium 7.0 % Copper 21.1 % Folate 38.5 % Iron 22.6 % Magnesium 20.1 % Manganese 46.2 % Niacin 12.6 % Pantothenic Acid 9.7 % Phosphorus 22.5 % Riboflavin 13.4 % Selenium 8.1 % Thiamin 20.4 % Zinc 10.4 %

*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.