Instructions: 1. Sort and wash beans; place in a large Dutch oven. Cover with water to 2 inches above beans; bring to a boil, and cook 2 minutes. Remove from heat; cover and let stand 1 hour. Drain beans.

2. Cook the bacon in pan over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan; crumble and set aside. Add bell pepper and the next 8 ingredients (bell pepper through minced garlic) to drippings in pan; saute 10 minutes or until browned. Stir in the broth, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Add beans. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat, and simmer 1 hour or until beans are tender.

3. Place 3 cups of the bean mixture in a blender, and process until smooth. Return the pureed mixture to pan. Stir in the bacon and parsley.

Yield: 8 servings (serving size: 1 cup).

TIPS: May be frozen up to 2 months. Pour into an airtight container, leaving enough room for expansion (usually an inch or two at the top). To reheat, thaw completely in the refrigerator; then place contents in a saucepan over low heat, adding some liquid if necessary.

VARIATION: 01/00 Tested the recipe: rescaled to serve

4. Use small white beans and ham bone. Increased soaking time of beans to 2 hours. Instead of bacon, use chips of ham remaining on a ham bone. Saute those and add 1-tsp pale olive oil; saute the onion, etc. We added an herb to the broth - marjoram - but thyme or a blend would also add depth. Steeped the soup with more water to almost cover the bone for 3 hrs (instead of 1), adding diced green beans and venting the lid during the last hour. We crushed some of the beans with the back of a spoon.

Yield: "8 cups"

NOTES : Color abounds in this white bean, red pepper soup with carrot and parsley. Be careful about salt from pork and broth. Good flavor which Bob enjoyed more than I. We both liked the sweet red bell pepper.

anyway its been a while since I made ham bone bean soup - so we used this recipe with the sweet bell peppers as the basic idea. also added fresh green beans. Bob liked the result more than I did - the ham made it very salty - should have added a potato to capture some of that salt. We both liked the sweetness of the bell pepper. see the variation -pat

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