Vegan Butter Bean and Mushroom Soup

This is a delicious, hearty soup that's great for cold, snowy days. It's also vegan and fat-free.

  I was looking for a good slow cooker recipe since it is a lazy, snowy Saturday.  I looked through my recipes and found a simple potato soup in my quick-fix vegetarian cookbook.  It called for potatoes, celery, garlic, salt and pepper, vegetable broth, and water.   I started with the basic recipe from the book and built from there.  

This is what I used:

1 can butter beans, rinsed
2 cups mushrooms, sliced
1 green bell pepper, chopped
½ onion, chopped
3 large potatoes, diced
2 carrots, sliced
3 celery sticks, sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
4 cups vegetable broth
2 cups water
¼ cup pearled barley
1 bay leaf
1/8 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
salt and pepper to taste 

Combine all ingredients in the crock-pot and cook on high for 4-5 hours.

After you dish up the soup, let it sit for a couple of minutes and   

Enjoy!!