Rosemary White Bean Soup, Pumped Up

I used dried Navy beans for this soup. I only had one onion on hand, instead of the 3 that were called for, so I was deficient there...I did have an ultra amount of rosemary though, just because I have such a huge bush of it and love to use it. I got a little worried the rosemary flavor would be too strong, but it was not. However, maybe because I cooked mine all afternoon in the crock pot, the rosemary "needles" all came off into the soup. I picked a reasonable amount out by spoon...but couldn't get them all. My husband did not seem to mind them floating in his soup, surprisingly. I think I might put the rosemary in a little cheesecloth bag nesxt time, so it can be removed intact. I used a hand potato masher to mash about half the beans in the pot. I wanted the soup pretty chunky.

After eating a small bowl of the soup to say I tried it as it was meant to be, I added two diced steamed organic carrots and 1/2 cup or so of chopped ham to the soup, to make it more substantial. This was our meal along with fresh baked bread. This is a pic of my steamer of carrots and ham before I added them to the soup.

If you are using this soup as the main course of a meal, and everyone wants 2-3 bowls, it probably will serve more like 4-5 than 6 people. I thought the rosemary flavor was amazing. I like my additions also, and think I will always add the carrots and ham too.